Houston Failure Analysis Laboratory
Something broke, and now you need answers. Maybe it’s a pipe that failed during operation, a weld that cracked under load, a product that didn’t perform as advertised, or a component that gave out far too soon. Whatever it is, failure analysis is the process of figuring out exactly what went wrong, and in most cases, what can be done to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we’re good at it. Our Houston failure analysis lab has investigated thousands of failures across nearly every industry, from oil and gas pipelines to aerospace hardware to everyday consumer products. We combine the analytical capabilities of a top-tier metallurgical laboratory with the judgment of top-notch MS and PhD engineers who know how to cut through complexity and give you a clear, defensible answer.
If you’re an engineer looking for a detailed breakdown of our analytical methods and equipment, head over to our metallurgical failure analysis page. This page is for everyone else who needs to understand what failure analysis is, how the process works, and what it costs.
What Is Failure Analysis?
Failure analysis is the systematic investigation of a component, structure, or system to determine why it failed. The term covers a wide range of situations — from a fractured bolt to a corroded pipeline to a medical implant that caused an adverse outcome — and the investigation can be as brief as a few hours or as involved as several weeks of laboratory work and reporting.
The goal is always the same: understand the failure mechanism (how it broke), identify the root cause (why it broke), and provide recommendations to prevent recurrence. In practice those two things — mechanism and root cause — are often different. A pipe might fail by stress corrosion cracking (the mechanism), but the root cause might be an incorrect material specification, a contaminated fluid, or an operating temperature that nobody anticipated. You need both pieces to actually solve the problem.
Good failure analysis follows established best practices from organizations like ASTM International — ASTM E2332 is the standard guide for failure analysis investigations — and draws on a toolkit of laboratory techniques matched to what the evidence suggests. Our team follows ASM International’s protocols for forensic metallurgical investigations, which means our findings are methodologically sound and can withstand scrutiny from other experts.
Who We Work With
Our failure analysis clients come from a wide range of backgrounds, not just are engineers:
Plant engineers and facility managers who need to understand what happened to a piece of equipment and whether it’s safe to return to service. Insurance companies and independent adjusters handling property damage, equipment breakdown, or product liability claims — we work with insurers regularly and understand what documentation you need. Attorneys and legal teams building or defending product liability, personal injury, or subrogation cases — our experts are experienced expert witnesses who can explain complex metallurgical findings clearly to judges and juries. Manufacturers investigating warranty returns, field failures, or production quality issues. Contractors and construction companies dealing with structural or material failures. Government and defense contractors requiring documented forensic investigation with full chain of custody.
If you’re not sure whether your situation calls for failure analysis, call us at 832-481-6600 — we’ll tell you honestly whether it does.
What We Look At
Failures come in a lot of varieties, and part of our expertise is knowing which type of investigation fits each situation. The most common categories we see:
Corrosion failures are the bread and butter of our practice — pitting corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, galvanic corrosion, crevice corrosion, microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC), and more. Corrosion is responsible for over a trillion dollars in damage annually in the US alone, and it rarely looks the same twice. Here’s a few examples of areas we work in:
- Fracture and fatigue failures happen when components break under cyclic loading, overload, or impact. We read the fracture surface under the microscope using a technique called fractography. This tells an experienced metallurgist a remarkable amount about how and why a component broke.
- Welding failures cover defects introduced during fabrication (porosity, lack of fusion, hydrogen cracking) as well as in-service failures of welds that were made incorrectly or used the wrong materials. Our welding consulting and analysisteam handles these regularly.
- Hydrogen embrittlement is a particularly insidious failure mode that affects high-strength steels and fasteners, often with no visible warning before sudden fracture. We have specialized capabilities for hydrogen embrittlement analysis that go well beyond what most labs can offer.
- Material and manufacturing defects like having the wrong alloy supplied, improper heat treatment, or surface defects/damage introduced during production are more common than most people expect. Chemical analysis and microstructural examination can identify these quickly.
- Thermal failures from overheating, oxidation, thermal fatigue, or creep affect components in high-temperature service like boilers, heat exchangers, and turbine components.
- Performance failures – when a component isn’t broken but also is not working as expected. These can be just as consequential as fractures if you’re relying on that performance. The investigation approach is often similar to other failures.
Our Process
We try to keep things as simple and transparent as possible, because when something has failed, the last thing you need is more complexity.
- When a new case comes in, we start with a thorough visual and photographic examination of whatever you’ve sent us. We ask a lot of questions — about the application, the operating conditions, the history of the component, and what you’ve already observed. This background matters enormously. The exact same crack morphology can mean completely different things depending on the environment the component was operating in.
- From there, we plan the analytical work based on what the evidence suggests. We don’t run tests just to run tests: every technique we apply is answering a specific question. Standard tools in our lab include Scanning Electron Microscopy with chemical analysis (SEM/EDS), optical metallography, hardness testing, chemical composition verification, and FTIR spectroscopy for organic contaminants and coating analysis. The NACE/AMPP standards and ASM handbooks guide our approach throughout.
- As data comes in, we evaluate it and adjust the investigation accordingly. Failure analysis is detective work. Sometimes the first finding points you in a completely new direction, and that’s actually just fine. We follow the evidence.
- When we have enough to reach a defensible conclusion, we write it up clearly: what happened, what evidence supports that conclusion, and what you should do about it. Our reports are written to be technically rigorous and readable at the same time, whether the audience is a mechanical engineer or a courtroom.
What to Do With a Failed Component Before You Send It to Us
This part matters more than most people realize. Evidence degrades — fracture surfaces oxidize, fluids evaporate, contamination gets disturbed. A few simple steps preserve the integrity of your sample and the quality of our analysis (if it hasn’t happened already):
Don’t clean it. Don’t sandblast it, degrease it, or try to remove corrosion products. Contact us for guidance! What looks like “dirt” to you is often some of the most important evidence we have. Photograph it thoroughly from multiple angles before packing, including close-ups of the fracture or failure area, and context shots showing where it sits in the larger assembly. If there are associated fluids (process water, oil, chemicals), preserve a sample in a clean container. Don’t try to fit broken pieces back together, that can damage fracture surfaces. Contact us before you ship if you’re unsure about packaging. We’re happy to walk you through it.
For time-sensitive situations, like catastropic failure, when equipment needs to return to service or a component may be disturbed, call us immediately. We can sometimes mobilize for on-site analysis rather than waiting for a sample to arrive.
Report Options
Not every situation calls for the same depth of investigation, and we’d rather help you get the right answer within your budget than sell you more than you need.
An email summary is the right choice when you need a fast, informal answer — to decide whether a warranty claim has merit, to troubleshoot a manufacturing issue, or to get a quick second opinion. We examine the component, document our findings, and give you a clear answer via email, often within a few days.
A summary report adds structure and documentation — a written summary of findings, discussion of the failure mechanism, and some basic recommendations. Good for situations that need more than an email but don’t require courtroom-ready documentation.
A full investigation report is a comprehensive scientific document covering the complete examination, all analytical data, root cause determination, contributing factors, and recommendations. These reports are written to withstand scrutiny from other engineers and from opposing experts in litigation. This is what you want when the stakes are high, and it’s what we’re particularly good at. If there’s any chance the matter ends up in court, start here — it’s much easier to begin with a full report than to upgrade a summary later.
After the failure analysis itself, we also offer follow-on services including fitness-for-service assessments, integrity management program development, materials selection consulting, and corrosion control recommendations, so that you’re not left with a diagnosis but no path forward.
How Much Does Failure Analysis Cost?
We publish our pricing ranges because we think you deserve to know what you’re getting into before you call.
For a quick email analysis, expect $2,500–$4,500. For full investigation reports, the range is typically $4,500 to $20,000 or more for complex multi-component failures with extensive analytical work and litigation-quality documentation.
The range is wide because failures vary enormously in complexity. A single fractured fastener might take us half a day to evaluate. A multi-component system failure with a full chain of custody, multiple analytical techniques, and a litigation-quality report can take several weeks of work. We’ll give you a clear estimate before we start and flag it early if the scope is heading somewhere that changes the cost. We don’t like surprise invoices.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re not sure yet whether this will become a legal matter. Should we still get failure analysis done now? Yes, and the sooner the better. Evidence degrades with time, and components often get disturbed, cleaned, or discarded before anyone thinks to preserve them. Starting a failure analysis early, even informally, preserves your options. If the situation does escalate legally, you’ll be glad you have the documentation. If it doesn’t, you still know what caused the failure. We can help you do this the right way and preserve the evidence appropriately.
Can you work with our insurance company directly? Yes. We regularly work alongside adjusters and claims teams, and we understand what documentation insurers require. We can also provide reports structured specifically for subrogation claims.
Do we need to send the whole component, or just a sample? It depends on the failure and what questions need answering. In some cases a representative sample is sufficient; in others, seeing the full component in context is important. Contact us before you ship and we’ll advise you on what to send.
How do I know your findings will hold up if this goes to court? Our reports follow established ASTM and ASM International methodologies for forensic investigation, are written by credentialed PhD metallurgists, and are backed by documented analytical data. Our expert witnesses have testified in cases across the country and have a strong track record. We’ve gone up against the best experts at other firms and our findings have held up, because we go in with strong data and thorough analysis, not just opinions.
What’s the difference between failure analysis and root cause analysis? Root cause analysis (RCA) is a component of failure analysis focused on identifying the deepest underlying cause rather than just the proximate one. In metallurgical failure analysis we typically do both: the failure mechanism (how it broke) and the root cause (why it broke at that time, in that environment, in that application). You need both to actually fix the problem and prevent recurrence.
Can you analyze something that failed years ago, or a component that’s partially destroyed? Often yes. Fractured components, corroded pieces, and even small fragments can yield a surprising amount of information. The earlier you get us involved the better, but we’ve worked with challenging, degraded samples many times and gotten useful answers.
How fast can you turn things around? Standard turnaround is 1–2 weeks for most investigations. We can work faster when needed: call us to discuss your timeline and we’ll tell you what’s realistic.
Ready to Get Started?
Contact us to discuss your failure and get a quote. We’re easy to reach, quick to respond, and we genuinely enjoy this kind of work, which shows in the quality of what we deliver.
Call: 832-481-6600 Email: info@uscorrosion.com Visit: 8307 Kempwood Dr., Houston, TX 77055
US Corrosion Brochure
Related Services
- Metallurgical Failure Analysis — detailed technical capabilities for engineers
- Corrosion Failure Analysis
- Hydrogen Embrittlement Analysis
- Metallurgical Expert Witness
- Welding Consulting and Analysis
- Fitness-for-Service Assessments
- On-Site Analysis Services
