Failure Investigations

Materiex has conducted a large number of technical failure investigations during the last 27 years. We are assisting clients from a wide range of business areas including insurance companies, manufacturing industry, medical industry and power generation.

Typical Procedure

Failure investigations and root cause analyses are in many respects similar to a detective’s work and typically starts with an on-site inspection followed up by a laboratory investigation. During the inspection, photo documentation plays an important role and samples of interest are collected and brought back to the laboratory. If an inspection is not considered necessary, samples are sometimes sent directly to Materiex. Our well-equipped materials laboratory has excellent resources to solve a wide variety of materials related problems. A laboratory investigation typically involves examination of the fracture surface using SEM, verification of mechanical properties using different mechanical testing methods and chemical analysis to ensure that the material properties are in accordance with the specifications. A case is solved by collecting sufficient information and evidence to explain the failure, identify the root cause and suggest how similar problems can be avoided in the future.

Insurance Related Investigations

Materiex provide solid technical documentation that is a valuable help for the loss adjuster to make the decision on whether a loss is covered or not. The aim is always to reach a consensus regarding the cause of the failure among all involved parties. Of course, this goal is not always attainable sometimes leading to a legal dispute. Materiex has been commissioned as expert witnesses in some twenty cases of insurance related litigation.