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Material Measurement Laboratory /Applied Chemicals and Materials Division

Fatigue and Fracture Group

We provide metrology, standard reference materials, documentary standards support, property data, and predictive models to ensure materials reliability against fatigue and fracture. We specialize in structural applications (e.g., buildings, bridges, pipelines, and some medical devices).

The Structural Materials Group will become the Fatigue and Fracture Group in the spring of 2017. The Fatigue and Fracture group assists industry, government agencies, and universities in assessing material durability under extreme operational and environmental conditions and conducting failure analyses post-mortem. The effect of material processing on fatigue and fracture is also considered. Where test techniques do not already exist, new methods for performance characterization are developed to ensure that materials can be adequately tested under conditions as close to real-world as possible.

News and Updates

Projects and Programs

EBSD grain orientation map for additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V showing elongated prior-Beta grain morphology in the build direction (vertical in this image)"

Additive Manufacturing Fatigue and Fracture

Ongoing
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is not used in fatigue and fracture critical applications despite industrial need. The goal of this project is to enable confident use of metal AM in critical applications through: Advancing metrological practice for AM-specific performance metrics encompassing the
Cross section of a SAC solder joint in a BGA, with sketches of potential micro specimens

Advanced Mechanical Characterization of Mesoscale Materials

Ongoing
Knowledge of a material’s mechanical properties is key to designing safe and reliable structural components for applications ranging in size from medical implants to large civil engineering structures. Traditionally, a material’s mechanical properties are measured by performing mechanical tests on
medical devices Intro_fig

Cardiac Device Reliability

Ongoing
Impact and Customers This project will reduce the need for surgeries to replace failed implants, thereby improving safety and quality of life for implant recipients and reducing medical expense to society. It will provide assessment tools for the external electronic devices that support the

Publications

Mechanical Metallurgy on Columbia Gas X100 Experimental Pipe

Author(s)
Dash Weeks, Ryan White, Jake Benzing, Enrico Lucon, Nicholas Derimow, Ashley Kroon, Robert Smith
This study evaluates the material properties of an X100 pipeline steel extracted from an experimental transmission pipeline section placed into service in the

Awards

Press Coverage

Contacts

Group Leader