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MTIS Insights
Practical technical notes written by the engineers who do the work — how failures happen, how investigations work, and how to make better materials decisions. Every article is general technical information, reviewed before publication; none is a substitute for case-specific investigation.
Evidence & method
What to preserve in the first 24 hours after a component fails
The evidence you save — or destroy — in the first day usually decides how good the answer can be.
Evidence handlingWhy you should never clean a fracture surface
The most common well-intentioned mistake in failure investigation — and what to do instead.
MethodRoot-cause analysis in materials failures
Why "the shaft broke by fatigue" is not a root cause — and how hypothesis-driven investigation gets to one.
MethodWhat a failure investigation report should include
A checklist for judging any investigator's report — including ours.
Testing strategyHow partner-laboratory testing supports an investigation
Why independent test-programme design beats a captive equipment list.
Testing strategyMaterials characterisation for non-specialists
What the common techniques actually tell you, in plain engineering language.
Failure mechanisms
Fatigue or overload? Reading the difference
Two failures can look identical from a distance and mean completely different things up close.
MechanismsStress-corrosion cracking: three ingredients, one failure
Material, environment, stress — remove any one and SCC stops. Finding which one to remove is the investigation.
MechanismsHydrogen embrittlement: the delayed fracture
Why high-strength fasteners break days after installation, and where the hydrogen comes from.
MechanismsPitting and crevice corrosion: reading localised attack
Why stainless steel fails in the one place you cannot inspect.
MechanismsHow a corrosion failure investigation works
From wall loss to mechanism to fix — the corrosion-specific version of the method.
Components & decisions
Boiler-tube failures: what the rupture shape tells you
Thick-lipped or thin-lipped, scaled or clean — the tube usually names its own killer.
ComponentsBolting and fastener failures
Small parts, big consequences: fatigue, hydrogen, overload and the torque that was never right.
ComponentsWeld failure investigation
Why welds fail more often than parent metal, and what a weld failure usually says about the fabrication.
DecisionsMaterials selection for corrosive environments
Why "more corrosion resistant" is not a strategy, and how to select against the actual mechanism.
Editorial standard: every article is drafted by MTIS, technically reviewed before publication, dated, and linked to the relevant service. No client-identifiable material appears in any article.
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