Fracture facies analysis laboratory
Would you like to carry out a fracture surface analysis on a metal part?
What is a fracture surface?
A fracture surface refers to the surface of a material that has fractured. It can provide valuable information about the reasons for the fracture and the characteristics of the metallic material.
Metallic materials, used in a wide variety of products, are susceptible to fracture over time as a result of wear. Observation of metallographic sections and precise analysis of fracture surfaces (fractography) enable the causes of fracture to be identified.
The fracture surface is the appearance of the surface created by the fracture of a part. Each fracture has a specific fracture surface, making it possible to identify the cause and origin of the fracture: fractography is the art of analysing the fracture surface of broken parts.
What is a fracture surface analysis?
Fracture surface analysis, also known as fractographic analysis, is a laboratory analysis used by industry to determine the causes of fractures in metal parts. This method is based on visual examination of fracture surfaces to determine their appearance characteristics, followed by microscopic analysis. Internal defects, such as cracks, inclusions or areas of weakness, can be detected using this technique.
What causes a break-up?
Why call in a laboratory in the case of metal fractures?
The analysis of materials following a metallic fracture provides an understanding of the factors contributing to the failure of the metallic structure, enabling the development of preventive measures to avoid future fractures and improve the quality of metallic materials.
The FILAB laboratory offers high quality services to help determine the reasons for metallic failure (overstress, corrosion, fatigue or a combination of factors), and to prevent its recurrence.
Fracture analysis is part of our expertise in metallic materials and metallurgical failures.
The FILAB laboratory can help you with fractographic analysis of metal parts
For over 30 years, the FILAB laboratory has had the experience and specific analytical equipment to support companies in the analysis and study of fracture surfaces on metal parts, through tailor-made support.
From analysis to R&D support, the FILAB laboratory offers multi-sector expertise to deal with your various fractographic problems:
Our technical resources for analysing a fracture surface
This fractographic expertise will make it possible to locate the onset of the fracture, identify its extension and highlight any material defects or external pollution that may have caused it. The FILAB laboratory can help you understand and solve your fracture problems.
For this type of service, the FILAB laboratory uses cutting-edge analysis techniques such as :
- Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with an EDX microprobe (FEG-EDX SEM)
- Optical Microscope.
Our failure analysis services
In addition to fracture surface analysis using fractography, the FILAB laboratory offers other analysis services to characterise metallic materials and identify metallurgical failures:
Analyse the fracture surface
Study the effectiveness of a surface treatment system
Validate the conformity of a surface
Characterise the causes of wear on a material
Assess the risk of wear on a material in a given environment
Our mechanical analysis services
The FILAB laboratory offers you itsmechanical analysis services:
FAQ
To make the use of metal parts more reliable, manufacturers can carry out mechanical tests and chemical analyses prior to breakage. The most common analyses include
- tensile tests, bending tests, compression tests, fatigue tests
- corrosion analysis, analysis of mechanical alloys
A fracture surface analysis involves studying the characteristics of the surface to deduce the mechanical properties that led to the fracture. To carry out such an analysis, we generally proceed in three stages. Firstly, the sample in question must be prepared so that it has a fracture surface. Next, this surface is observed using an optical or electron microscope to identify the different fracture zones. Finally, we study the morphological and mechanical characteristics of these zones, such as the presence of microcracks or deformations, to understand the fracture mechanisms involved.
There are different types of fracture surface:
- Ductile fracture, which involves plasticity, can occur when materials undergo permanent deformation such as stretching.
- Brittle fracture occurs suddenly when materials are subjected to loads that are too great for their properties, and is characterised by the appearance of cracks that propagate rapidly without creating any deformation, particularly in steels.
- Fatigue failure is often the result of repeated stresses that progressively weaken metallic materials. Unlike brittle fracture, significant plastic deformation can be observed on microscopic examination.
- Environmental fracture is caused by external factors such as corrosion or hydrogen. Cracks can appear and cause metallic fracture.
Understanding these different types of fracture surface can help prevent the failure of structures, machines and other equipment that are subjected to intensive loads.
