Articles

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author’s Note: I want to reiterate that this Series about reading the basic fracture surfaces, is for novices who often first come into contact with such failed components. This Series is about the basics (101), and is intended to give readers an appreciation for the value of such ‘broken’ parts to an effective investigation/RCA. While this information will be rudimentary

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Abstract. In our last series highlighting the 4 primary Failure Modes (FM) of component failures (erosion, corrosion, fatigue and overload), we discussed how to read fractured surfaces. In this follow up series, we will take a look at tips on how to collect, preserve and examine such failed components.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Tips for Examining Shafts: Prepping for a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Note to Series Readers. To those following this Series, I will apologize for the front-end redundancy. I am doing so for those that are NOT following the Series and will read these articles independent of each other. If you are following the series (Thank You!) and proceed past the front-end

Reading Time: 9 minutes

How Failed Parts Work Into an RCA Author’s Note: I want to reiterate that this Series about reading the basic fracture surfaces, is for novices who often come into contact with such failed components. This Series is about the basics (101), and is intended to give readers an appreciation for the value of such ‘broken’ parts to an effective investigation/RCA.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

What are Fatigue Failure Patterns? In our prior blog on Fatigue we discussed the various cyclical loading applications. Let’s review them again with this graphic. Basic Characteristics of Gear Fatigue Now let’s get a little bit more specific and discuss the basic characteristics of Gear fatigue. Some of these basics are: Let’s run through some failed parts and see if we can

Reading Time: 8 minutes

In this article, we are going to delve into Fatigue (because it is the most common fracture pattern) and see how we can use an evidence-based, deductive logic process to determine what elements of Fatigue may have been at play. We are trying to create an intellectual curiosity within the front lines about ‘making the call’…is it Fatigue, or some

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Questions About Coefficient of Friction in Fasteners I recently received an interesting LI inquiry that I felt others could learn from the answers that I was able to get. This is not my expertise so I sought out answers from some colleagues who were more familiar with fasteners. Here is the original inquiry (translated from Portuguese so I hope Google

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Is There a Direct Correlation Between Reliability & Safety? “Assumption 1: Safety is increased by increasing system or component reliability. If components or systems do not fail, then accidents will not occur. (p. 7) This assumption is one of the most pervasive in engineering and other fields. The problem is that it is not true. Safety is a system property, not

Reading Time: 4 minutes

What Happened? As many of you know, I have been encouraging my LI contacts for years to take me up on my offer to review any pictures they have of failed parts, and we would try and provide them some preliminary feedback. Well, someone finally took us op on the offer and we wanted to share what was learned (we

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Shallow Cause Analysis vs. Root Cause Analysis In this original post, A Mechanic’s Story: Basic Component Fatigue, we took a detailed journey through the physical side of a shaft failure RCA. We stopped at the physical side of that failure, parallel misalignment. However, stopping at the component level of failure does not constitute a credible and thorough RCA. Actually stopping at

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Grade Your RCA Effort and Print Out Your Private Report Card… Abstract: If you had to give a grade to your current Root Cause Analysis (RCA) initiative, what would it be? How would you come to that conclusion (grade)? The paradox many face with such initiatives is drawing the distinction between compliance and actual effectiveness. What would our RCA grade be based on? In this

Reading Time: 10 minutes

The Need to be a “Little Bit Bold & Outrageous” the man who taught us how This phrase ‘a little bit bold & outrageous’ was constantly used by my father, Charles J. Latino early in his Reliability career. Charles founded and led one of the first corporate, global Reliability Engineering R&D groups in the U.S. for a company called Allied