Midshipmen Learn Materials Failure Analysis and Prevention through Hands-On Lab in Course Elective
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Midshipmen Learn Materials Failure Analysis and Prevention through Hands-On Lab in Course Elective The engineering student would like to avoid failure and finds it difficult to believe that any aspect of engineering can have negative consequences. An experienced engineer knows that the best successes often stem from failure and that success alone does not teach much. In disasters like the Challenger explosion, the Thresher sinking, or the Chemobyl accident, scientists and engineers hope to gain insight into preventing future failures. At the U.S. N a v a l Academy, Materials Failures Analysis and Prevention is an elective course offered in the materials and mechanics tracks of the Mechanical Engineering Department. It is designed to educate Naval engineers in component failure investigation. The goal of this course is to strengthen the analytical and design skills of the engineering students and to assure that they derive success from failure. Based on the determined mode of failure of a component, corrective action, especially in the application of materials, can be incorporated back into the design or redesign of the component to prevent similar failures. The course involves hands-on laboratory experience as well as lecture. The stu dents consider a number of specific topics and practical case studies, organized according to Classification by analysis technique and failure mode. Initial discussions center on more notorious cases such as the Titanic sinking, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, and the brittle hüll failure of the World War II Liberty ships. Background material is obtained from the large number of reference texts available in the Naval Academy library. A seminar approach in the classroom is utilized, and the students are expected to discuss selected readings as if they are the investigative engineers. Written assignments based on the readings are required. A number of laboratories conducted during the course are designed to provide the engineer with hands-on experience and the necessary skills to investigate component failure. The Student learns nondestructive evaluation techniques and optical and electron microscopy as well as mechanical testing and processing techniques to replicate fail ure scenarios. Each student or team of students is responsable for selecting a failure analysis project early in the semester. In one example, a team of students chose as their topic the failure of a compressor studbolt supplied by a Company. The studbolt, consisting of a low alloy steel 3 0 C N D 8 , had MRS BULLETIN/JANUARY 2000
Students at the U.S. Naval Academy conduct a laboratory investigation to determine the cause of failure ofa compressor studbolt. Shown is a scanning electron microscope Image of a studbolt consisting ofa low alloy steel, 30CND8, showing beachmarks indicating brittle fatigue.
recently failed during use in a liquid ring hydrogen compressor. The studbolt had a tensile strength of 1230 MPa, yield strength of 1030 MPa, a 10% elongation, and hydrostatic test pressure of 91.14 psig. Within
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