A comprehensive failure analysis to determine the cause and origin, also known as root cause, frequently reveals that more than one contributory cause played a role in the failure. In such cases, it is generally prudent to establish the proximate or primary cause of failure and all contributory causes in order of importance or severity so that corrective action can be taken to prevent similar failures in the future. Contributory causes can include design deficiency, material selection, metallurgical fabrication, metallurgical processing, improper service usage, human performance, material defect, service or storage environment (such as UV or ozone degradation and corrosion damage), among many others.

FEI metallurgists, materials scientists, mechanical engineers, statisticians, accident and crash investigators are among the most highly credible in the nation, and have been requested to present their conclusions at hundreds of trials, accident investigation boards and U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings. An FEI metallurgist or metallurgical engineering team is available to conduct a failure analysis investigation worldwide for a variety of matters, including:

• disaster (mining, aviation, maritime, marine, railroad)
• accident (automobile, aircraft, boating, bicycle, mining, railroad, maritime, construction collapse, et al.)
• corrosion
• fracture, failure, damage
• fire, explosion
• food & product tampering
• intellectual property (patent infringement)
• fabrication, manufacturing
• foundry & casting processes
• consumer product liability
• quality control, quality assurance
• lamp bulbs, headlights, taillights
• timing mechanisms (clocks, watches)
• bullet lead
• forensic
• welding
• wire rope
• restoration of obliterated serial numbers & identification markings, aka number restoration
• product specifications
• fraud
• litigation consulting
• X-ray diffraction (XRD) to reveal chemical compounds present, residual stress, preferred orientation
• Statistical modeling, QC/QA, error rate modeling for complex systems, lifetime predictions, transportation systems, hypothesis testing, experimental design