Insurance

Materiex has conducted over 1000 failure investigations in collaboration with insurance companies since 1990. Our failure investigations and expert root cause analysis are widely appreciated among insurers and loss adjusters for being thorough and presenting concise conclusions.

Technical Documentation

Materiex provides solid technical documentation that could e.g. help a loss adjuster to decide whether a loss is covered or not. The aim is always to reach a consensus regarding the cause of failure among all involved parties. Of course, this goal is not always attainable sometimes leading to a legal dispute. We have assisted numerous insurance companies and law firms as well as insured companies with technical expertise in claim related litigation.

Typical Investigation

An insurance related failure investigation typically starts with collecting sufficient information about the case which is followed up by an on-site inspection. 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 the 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.