Troubleshooting and Failure Analysis

Materials or components can fail due to improper material choice or wrong processing procedures. Reliable answers or solutions to material failure problems or process related material problems can be provided at MTM.

The Department is often asked by industry, Government Offices and Courts of Justice to perform specific analyses, to investigate failures or to advise on projects. This wide variety of questions is tackled by a multidisciplinary task group. This allows to treat questions related to industrial materials with much flexibility and wide professional experience. The task group mainly specialises in failure analysis, most problems being related to fatigue, corrosion and wear. The group is dedicated to deliver in due time reliable answers or solutions, and can build upon all the know-how and infrastructure of MTM.

Typical examples include the investigation of fracture surfaces, failure of gears and steeringwheels, staining of painted structures, rupture of couplings, leakage of pipings, structural modifications of materials due to fire or to processing operations as laser cutting, investigation of archaeological objects, defect detection in industrial products with NDT and mechanical tests such as tension, compression, bending, torsion, wear and fatigue.

Regularly seminars are organised covering a whole variety of topics related to failure analysis. These seminars are usually part of the educational programs of undergraduate students but are also open for industrial participants.

Contact: M. De Bonte, L. Froyen, M. Wevers

Technological assistance for surface technology

A service for technological assistance in the field of surface treatment of materials is operating at MTM. This service functions in co-operation with the Centre for Scientific and Technical Research in Metal Manufacturing, WTCM. Its purpose is to disseminate knowledge on surface technology, to introduce innovation projects and to provide fast and short-term support to all Belgian companies in the broad field of materials finishing (details)

Contact: M. De Bonte

Technological assistance for polymer matrix composites

A service for technological assistance in the field of polymer matrix composites is operating in a cooperation of MTM and WTCM. Its purpose is to disseminate knowledge on polymer matrix composite technology, to introduce innovation projects and to provide fast and short-term support to all Belgian companies.

Contact: I. Verpoest, Aart Willem Van Vuure

Shareware

SIMCON, software for the characterization of localized strain fields on a nanometer to micrometer scale using electron diffraction contrast imaging, which is an operational mode of transmission electron microscopy.