AMP_06_September_2021

HIGHL IGHTS A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 6 1 MEMBERS IN THE NEWS EMERGING PROFESSIONALS Recent Developments in Failure Analysis: An Emerging Professional’s Perspective Michael Hoerner, KnightHawk Engineering It is no secret that experience can- not be bought or taught; and in failure analysis (FA), experience is a powerful advantage. Thus, it is unreasonable to expect that emerging profession- als will have the same level of skill as those with a lifetime of studying and analyzing failures. It can be easy for the emerging professional to feel that they have nothing of significant value to contribute. However, there are signifi- cant advantages to being a recent graduate that the emerg- ing professional in FA can use to ensure they bring unique value to the discussion. Failure analysis tends to be an industry-dominated field. The causes of this are numerous, from the need to maintain trade secrets and nondisclosure agreements, short timelines sometimes necessary for answers, and the semi-routine nature of certain failures. The result is that a significant amount of FA is carried out by private indus- try. As such, there are certain technological advances in testing equipment and methodologies that tend to be adopted more slowly by industry than by academia and research laboratories. Some of these technologies are too costly or difficult to implement to have practical appli- cations in industry, but others have great utility and still see little use due to a lack of understanding of the tech- nique and its capabilities, or even a lack of knowledge of their existence. This presents a wonderful opportunity for emerging professionals to add value to their company and clients, as they have recently been immersed in the academic world where these techniques are more regularly utilized. Many of the most recent technologies and methodologies are not widely known in industry. Familiarity with these tech- niques can enable the emerging professional to identify areas where answers that may not have been definitively attainable previously, or may have been exceptionally costly to attain, can instead be obtained with relative ease and reliability. An example is electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), which has seen extensive use throughout metallur- gical research in academia, but has had little penetration into the oil and gas industry. This lack of penetration is so extensive that, in my experience, many clients have never even heard of EBSD, and thus do not know to ask for it, even when EBSD can provide answers that are deeply needed. By Hoerner leveraging their more recent academic experience, emerg- ing professionals can make themselves a major asset for even the most complex problems in industry. MEMBERS IN THE NEWS Schick and Lawlor Announce Acquisition Agreement Verder Scientific, Newtown, Pa., formally agreed to acquire all shares of Mager Scientific Inc., a distribu- tor of metallographic and hardness testing equipment. As outlined in the agreement, Georg Schick (pictured left) becomes president of Mager Scientific, while Jarrad Lawlor (right) heads the QATM business unit for the U.S. and Canada, as well as overseeing Nikon operations. Verder Scientific is a division of the Verder Group, a family-owned group of companies engaged in developing, manufacturing, and distributing products and services for scientific appli- cations. Mager Scientific has represented the QATM product lines for metallographic preparation and hardness testing since 2005. Vasudevan Named MSE Chair Vijay K. Vasudevan, FASM, was recently named chair of the depart- ment of materials science and engi- neering at the University of North Texas (UNT). He joins the UNT College of Engineering from the University of Cincinnati where he served as the Her- man Schneider Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Vasudevan has published one book, 193 peer-re- viewed articles in journals and confer- ence proceedings, and holds two patents. In 2012, he was awarded ASM’s Henry Marion Howe Medal. Vasudevan