Skip to content 
Metallurgical Failures Expert
ABOVE IS A PHOTOMICROGRAPH OF STAINLESS STEEL THAT FAILED AS A RESULT OF INTERGRANULAR CORROSION – Intergranular corrosion is a selective attack in the vicinity of the grain boundaries of a stainless steel. It is as a result of chromium depletion, mainly due to the precipitation of chromium carbides in the grain boundaries. Chromium carbides can be precipitated if the stainless steel is sensitized in the temperature range 550–850°C (1020–1560°F), for example during heat treatment or welding.
Metallurgical Engineering Experts with Engineering Services, L.P. can provide independent expert opinions regarding metallurgical failure analysis in a variety of materials and products forms from many different industries. This includes, but not limited to, the marine industry, aircraft industry, and the oil & gas industry.
Engineering Services, L.P. can comfortably and precisely perform any failure analysis / forensic investigation of a product by relying on state-of-the-art analytical laboratory equipment, which includes Scanning Electron Microscope / X Ray De-fraction.
Establishing the root cause failure analysis of any material failure can be easily accomplished given our extensive experience and unlimited laboratory resources throughout the Houston area.
Our extensive background in performing failure analysis allows us to comfortably participate in metallurgical failures of materials failures in a variety of products from many different industries including: consumer products, refineries, components, piping systems, structural shapes, automotive parts, aircraft parts, marine parts, food process equipment, and oil & gas equipment.
Recent Failures:
- Failures analysis of Mooring Chain Links reveal unmistakable evidence of acute fatigue damage to obvious striation marks in pear links being utilized in an offshore application.
- Another interesting failure analysis of Titanium Leg Braces that had been bent one to many times which resulted in premature failure.
- Substandard foreign pipe material identified by extremely low yield during a failure analysis.
- Biological corrosion of stainless steel bellows utilized in fire water system, as a result of an accident investigation.
