Failure Analysis

• Fractography and fracture surface analysis.
• Performance failure caused by crystalline defects: dislocations, impurities, interfacial defects using TEM, SEM, and AES.
• Mechanical characterization:  strength, ductility, deformation mechanisms.
• Chemical analysis: contamination, impurities, composition.
• Microstructural characterization.

Instrumentation:  Optical microscopes, scanning electron microscopes (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDAX), transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning Auger microscope (AES), universal mechanical testing systems, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES).