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The product failure is very common, almost all types of consumer products can experience potential failure. The root cause of product failures may come from contamination, environment, external attack or mechanical problem (design, manufacturing or usage). For example, a plastic fitting has cracked, we might consider whether it has been made of the correct plastic (bulk polymer and additives) or contaminated with foreign material or subjected to chemicals that have attacked it. When a product fails, it may bring to companies lost revenue and severely tarnished reputation. Failure analysis is a complex process of collecting and analyzing data to determine the cause of a failure and further figure out how to prevent it from happening again in the future. Failure analysis plays a key role in product development and system improvement.
Alfa Chemistry is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for failure analysis and has many experienced analysis experts. Our failure analysis services cover a variety industries and product categories (such as metals, plastics, and electronics), several failure characteristics include corrosion, cracking, embrittlement, overload, wear, and more. We specialize in a wide range of non-destructive testing techniques, like microscopy (SEM, TEM, AFM, STM, LSCM ), spectroscopic analysis (ICP-MS, NMR, MS, PXRD, TF-XRD, UV-Vis, FTIR, Raman) and chromatography (HPLC, LC/MS, GC/MS, GC/FID, GC/TCD, GPC/SEC), and destructive tests like contamination analysis and thermal analysis (DSC, TGA). The micro-structural, elemental and molecular information can be obtained, which is helpful for revealing the likely root cause of the failure. We constantly improve our analytical equipment to meet increasing sophisticated techniques.
When puzzled by questions like: Was the product actually defective? Is it necessary to conduct a product recall? Are there liability issues involved and the potential for impending lawsuits? Just contact Alfa Chemistry , and we will provide quick solutions for your unique situations. We offer a full range of failure analysis services including:
Fatigue is the failure caused by repeated loading & unloading. The data indicate that about 90% of engineering failures are caused by fatigue. Fatigue or durability analysis is required to predict possible component failure when the part operates over and over, day after day. Fatigue failure analysis is becoming increasingly important in engineering design. The effective use of fatigue analysis is helpful for assuring the fatigue resistance and durability of all mechanical components. Our experienced teams will provide you support for evaluation of fatigue and durability, mainly including structural fatigue, thermal fatigue, vibration fatigue, weld fatigue, thermo-mechanical fatigue, creep fatigue interaction and fatigue property derivations.
When a product is contaminated, questions like "with what?" and "how much?" may arise. Contamination is a multifaceted problem. The identification and quantification of contaminants can be time-consuming and require significant resources. If the contaminants are not defined or controlled, eventually serious problems will arise. Alfa Chemistry can help you find, identify and measure contaminants that lead to product failure. The contamination analysis we conduct involves mainly three respects: identifying the type and source of foreign particles, determining the quantity of contaminants, tracing the source of contamination and developing corrective plans. Depending on the suspected nature of the contaminants, we decide which technique(s) to use: such as X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), FTIR, SEM-EDS, ICP-MS.
Container closure integrity (CCI) is critical for various industries. A lack of package integrity can lead to contamination of products. When CCI failures emerge, it can cause significant product quality risks. For example, contamination of a sterile product for parenteral administration can lead to serious consequences for the patient. Alfa Chemistry has extensive CCI analysis techniques for various packaging and delivery systems, to meet the needs of pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device manufacturers.
When a component is subjected to a load that exceeds its mechanical strength, it breaks due to being unable to bear the load. Overload can result in fracture or failure of a component. The fractures caused by overload generally fall into two categories: brittle and ductile. The engineers from Alfa Chemistry have the expertise and rich experience to help you conduct failure investigations and resolve materials failure problem.
The stress corrosion failure is produced by simultaneous action of stress, corrosive substance and the properties of the material. Hydrogen embrittlement is the process by which the introduction and subsequent diffusion of hydrogen into the metal that makes metal becoming brittle and fracture. Both stress corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement failure are caused by the ambient, and are driven by the chemical, electrochemical and transport processes. The emergence of stress corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement can reduce substantially the structure safety. The methods to prevent hydrogen embrittlement are centered on minimizing contact between the metal and hydrogen. Proper electroplating solution and procedures can effectively prevent hydrogen embrittlement.
Oxidation is a part of the natural process we call corrosion, which can spoil the aesthetics, weaken the performance of a product (especially metal), and in the worst case, even lead to the product failure. Almost every metal is vulnerable to oxidation. The corrosion of metal has a baneful influence on almost every industry, the most effected industries including: utilities, transportation, infrastructure, production & manufacturing. The corrosion may cause enormous amounts of replacement and repair costs every year. Involving SEM/EDX and optical microscopy together with a combination of various surface analysis techniques, we generally apply Anion Chromatography and FTIR to analyse and identify the source of corrosion and the failure mechanism, and then make suggestions on how to solve the problem and how to avoid them in the future.
Contamination problem is very common. It can be in many forms, like unknown particles in beverages or liquid pharmaceuticals, liquid droplets on the surface of solids, mixed solvents and off-odors of foods and others. Unexpected contamination could shut down a million dollar manufacturing process. Contamination problem can be difficult for the manufacturer to track down and very costly and time-consuming. Alfa Chemistry has experience and expertise to help you resolve the problem efficiently and economically. Our analytical testing services cover contamination problems for the industries, cosmetics, home, and personal care product.
Wear of material parts is a very common cause of failure. Wear failure is actually a surface failure caused by stressing of materials, leading to material failure or loss of functionality. Wear failure has evident effect on the industrial areas of agriculture, mining, mineral processing, and earth moving, and may lead to financial loss and life hazard. The key to solve the wear problem is to thoroughly examine the worn parts and study the operation of the device. With the help of digital microscope cameras, our professionals can see a magnified view clearly and easily inspect possible wear and potential failure, resolve and avoid wear failures.
There are numerous causes for lubricant failure, including insufficient lubricant quantity or viscosity, excessive temperatures, contamination with foreign matter, incorrect grease base for a particular application, over-lubricating. Poor lubrication is one of the main reasons for the bearings failure. When bearings fail, it is usually a critical event, resulting in costly repair and downtime. Alfa Chemistry helps you figure out if your lubricants have failed and how they may fail, then develop our maintenance plans to prevent, predict, eliminate, or reduce the consequence of the failure.
For many reasons, bonding to plastic, glass, ceramics, inorganic particles, or composite materials may suffer failures at or near interfaces. An adhesive bonding failure can be caused by oil, dirt or surfactant residues, and inadequate surface preparation is most common. The sophisticated analysis is necessary for adhesive failure analysis to find out the cause of failure. We can examine the nature of any adhesive bonding failure by using various techniques such as XPS surface analysis, contact angle measurements, FTIR, SEM, ICP-OES, and optical microscopy.
Discoloration can adversely affect the product, leading to a wide variety of problems like poor cosmetic appearance or complete deterioration. Discoloration can be caused by overheating or chemical attack. When a component undergoes discoloration, first the cause of the problem needs to be specified so that appropriate corrective measures can be taken in time. Many different analysis techniques, such as TEM, EDS, XPS, are available for us to characterize discoloration. A stereomicroscope is a very valuable analytical tool for facilitating documentation of the features in color.
Heat treatment is an operation with all steel processing methods involved. The problems, and even failures, caused by heat treatment are generally created by the stresses that are induced when phase transformations are taking place. During heat treatment process, the most serious defects are breakage and distortion due to the buildup of residual stresses. Brittle fracture is often an indicative feature of a heat treating problem. The experts of Alfa Chemistry have decades of experience in the heat treatment systems industry, specifically consulting on and inspecting heat treatment operations.
The safety factor is a design criteria that an engineered component or structure must achieve. To achieve the factor of safety, the allowable stress is calculated. The allowable stresses of material are also known as "design stresses" or "working stresses." If the material is changed from its "on paper" design, the material can easily be subjected to overly high stresses or overly high stress concentrations, which can induce structural failures and could have serious consequences. In failure analysis, the engineering design is often considered as a major factor leading to catastrophe. Our engineers will provide complete, reliable and timely failure analysis that can help prevent future failures.
Electroplating is a production process, by which metallic deposits for functional and decorative purposes are coated on a wide range of components. During electroplating process, a series of problems will occur, like poor adhesion, unacceptable surface finish, poor corrosion resistance, insufficient wear resistance, localized defects and inadequate deposit thickness, which may result in failures or shortened life of parts, and in the worst case, it could be catastrophic-a total system failure causing loss of life. When you encounter an electroplating failure, whether discovered at the plating facility or by the customer, it is important to properly analyzing and identifying the mode and cause of the failure, so that effective corrective measures can be taken. With the aid of various advanced analytical techniques, such as SEM/EDS analysis, FTIR analysis, metallographic tests and ICP/AES, our highly trained and experienced engineers will discuss your particular electroplating problem, and offer you a satisfied solution.
Contact Alfa Chemistry to learn more about our failure analysis services, if you have any failure analysis testing needs.
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