ASM Online Member Community

How will failure analysis of additive manufactured materials differ from traditional failure analysis?

------------------------------
John Merrill
Principal Engineer
EagleBurgmann
Matthews NC
7048407045
------------------------------

Thoughts? @Daniel Dennies, @Elvin Beach or @Larry Hanke

​​​​

------------------------------
Carrie Hawk
ASM International
Community Engagement Specialist

440-338-5497
carrieh@asminternational.org
------------------------------

History of the part is always important but often hard to obtain.  AM parts will raise this up a notch as lot traceability will likely include small batches and potentially even harder to trace back to any raw material, tooling or operator influence.  Porosity of the finished material will also become more important to characterize.

------------------------------
Gary Shade
Manager Product Analysis (ESG)
Samtec
Colorado Springs CO
(719) 465-6579
------------------------------

John,

The following ASM Handbook articles may be of interest

Daniel P. Dennies, S. Lampman, Failures Related to Metal Additive Manufacturing, Analysis and Prevention of Component and Equipment Failures, Vol 11A, ASM Handbook, Edited By Brett A. Miller, Roch J. Shipley, Ronald J. Parrington, Daniel P. Dennies, ASM International, 2021, p 250–265, https://doi.org/10.31399/asm.hb.v11A.a0006838

M. Brennan, J.S. Keist, T.A. Palmer, Defects in Metal Additive Manufacturing Processes, Additive Manufacturing Processes, Vol 24, ASM Handbook, Edited By David L. Bourell, William Frazier, Howard Kuhn, Mohsen Seifi, ASM International, 2020, p 277–286, https://doi.org/10.31399/asm.hb.v24.a0006557

Scott


------------------------------
Scott Henry
Senior Content Engineer
ASM International
------------------------------

Hi John,
I think that the failure analysis methodology of AM parts will not differ from traditional. The fracture surfaces may show sometimes new phases since we know now that AM is capable to produce phases that are usually not found in traditional materials, but this could be characterized by the methods used for failure analysis i.e. SEM/EDAX, and by microstructure observations on cut-ups from failed parts. If you are familiar with welding microstructure and already made failure investigations on welded components, you'll be able to see that it'll help for the investigation on AM pieces.
Hope this help.

------------------------------
Nihad Ben Salah
President
NBS- M&P Consulting
Canada
https://www.nbsmpconsult.com/en/home
------------------------------