Identify the root causes for failures in automotive materials to optimise product design and prevent the same issues from happening again.

Manufacturers of automotive products and components need reliable materials to optimise product lifespan and keep up with their competitors, so when a product or material fails, it’s crucial to know why. 

Applus+ Reliable Analysis offers a comprehensive failure analysis service to identify the root cause and associated responsibility of a failure and find the best solution to prevent it from happening again.  

The process

Our materials experts take a holistic approach to each failure analysis project, beginning with a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the failure.

We cross-examine the type of application with environmental factors, service life and relevant design specifications before conducting various non-destructive and then destructive tests on the part in question. The kind of materials we test include, but aren’t limited to: 

Metallic Materials: 

• Aluminum (and aluminum alloys) 
• Cast iron 
• Chrome 
• Cobalt (and cobalt alloys) 
• Magnesium (and magnesium alloys 
• Nickel (and nickel alloys) 
• Powder metal 
• Steels 
• Titanium 
• Welds  

Non-Metallic Materials: 

• Acrylic 
• Carbon Fiber and CFRP 
• Ceramics and CMC 
• Composites 
• Fiberglass 
• Glass 
• Polybutylene 
• Polyethylene 
• Plastics, Polymers and PMCs 
• Polypropylene 
• Polytetrafluoroethylene 
• PVC 
• Rubbers and elastomers 
• Silicon Carbide 

Thanks to our rich expertise in the automotive industry and the unique facilities at our disposal, we adopt the optimal test plan for each project to ensure the most reliable results and the best corrective actions for you to take.

The types of testing we perform include, but aren’t limited to: 

• Visual Examination 
• Optical Microscopy 
• Scanning Acoustic Microscopy  
• 2D / 3D X-Ray Radiography 
• X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy 
• Curve Trace / Electrical Inspection 
• Contamination Analysis
• Corrosion Investigation 
• Thermal Analysis (Destructive testing) 
• Physical Analysis (Destructive testing) 
• Cross-Section Analysis (Destructive testing)