4 ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | OCTOBER 2025 ASM International 9639 Kinsman Road, Materials Park, OH 44073 Tel: 440.338.5151 • Fax: 440.338.4634 Joanne Miller, Editor joanne.miller@asminternational.org Victoria Burt, Managing Editor vicki.burt@asminternational.org Frances Richards and Corinne Richards Contributing Editors Anne Vidmar, Layout and Design Allison Freeman, Production Manager allie.freeman@asminternational.org EDITORIAL COMMITTEE John Shingledecker, Chair, EPRI Beth Armstrong, Vice Chair, Oak Ridge National Lab Adam Farrow, Past Chair, Los Alamos National Lab Yun Bai, Ford Carl Boehlert, Michigan State University Punnathat Bordeenithikasem, Machina Labs Daniel Grice, Materials Evaluation & Engineering Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota Hideyuki Kanematsu, Suzuka National College of Technology Ibrahim Karaman, Texas A&M University Ricardo Komai, Tesla Krassimir Marchev, Northeastern University Bhargavi Mummareddy, Dimensional Energy Scott Olig, U.S. Naval Research Lab Christian Paglia, SUPSI Institute of Materials and Construction Ryan Paul, GrafTech International Satyam Sahay, John Deere Technology Center India Abhijit Sengupta, USA Federal Government Kumar Sridharan, University of Wisconsin Vasisht Venkatesh, Howmet Aerospace ASM BOARD OF TRUSTEES Elizabeth Ho man, President and Chair Daniel P. Dennies, Senior Vice President Tirumalai Sudarshan, Vice President Navin Manjooran, Immediate Past President William Jarosinski, Treasurer Rahul Gupta Hanchen Huang Victoria Miller Christopher J. Misorski Erik Mueller Ramana G. Reddy JP Singh Dehua Yang Fan Zhang Veronica Becker, Executive Director STUDENT BOARD MEMBERS Victoria Anson, Emily Ghosh, Wyeth Haddock Individual readers of Advanced Materials & Processes may, without charge, make single copies of pages therefrom for personal or archival use, or may freely make such copies in such numbers as are deemed useful for educational or research purposes and are not for sale or resale. Permission is granted to cite or quote from articles herein, provided customary acknowledgment of the authors and source is made. The acceptance and publication of manuscripts in Advanced Materials & Processes does not imply that the reviewers, editors, or publisher accept, approve, or endorse the data, opinions, and conclusions of the authors. SOLVING MATERIALS MYSTERIES The science of failure analysis (FA) is, at its core, in the business of solving mysteries. It involves evaluating the design, materials, processes, and in-service factors that could have introduced weakness into a system. It includes searching for clues that ultimately lead to identifying the primary suspect or root cause of a failure. In this issue, we bring you a trio of cases to test your FA acumen. As you delve into these pages, see if you can follow the clues and determine the result before reaching the end of each article. Mystery #1: Our cover story is based on the case of the leaky pipe. A legal battle ensued to determine which party or parties were at fault: the manufacturer, the general contractor, or the installer. Expert analysis and testimony from failure analysts at Materials Evaluation and Engineering Inc. helped determine the cause and resolve the case. It’s a compelling read. Mystery #2: Also in this issue, the corrosion and materials professionals at Matergenics Inc. provide a thorough metallurgical evaluation of a telecommunications tower that was exposed to fire. In this case, the Matergenics team needed to determine if the tower was still materially sound and thus operational. Mystery #3: In our final case, the author explores an odd phenomenon that occurred during the manufacturing of an advanced driver assistance camera for automobiles. Silicon was contaminating the surface and preventing adhesives from bonding properly. The author had to deduce how the silicon was getting into the process. To increase the metallurgical sleuthing skills of our members and customers, ASM offers plenty of resources. In October, at the IMAT conference in Detroit, the Failure Analysis Society (FAS) will host technical programming over four days. Topics include fractography and litigation as well as tools and techniques. Next year, on January 28-29, the new FAS Failure Analysis & Prevention Summit will take place in picturesque Oceanside, California. This first-ever, standalone event for the affiliate society features the theme of “Fatigue & Fracture.” The conference is designed for engineers, researchers, and industry professionals who will learn about cutting-edge methods and future directions in the field. To assist those seeking more fundamental yet broad training, ASM introduced the Failure Analysis Certificate Program. Jeffrey Hanson, responsible for quality metallography at Doosan Bobcat in North Dakota, was the first to complete the program last year after taking a series of required and elective courses. Hanson spoke to the value of the FA Certificate: “Through ASM’s courses, I have been able to apply the knowledge and skills learned in a way that directly contributed to the expansion of my employer’s metallurgy lab that includes a dedicated failure analysis function.” Circling back to Mystery #3—the silicon contamination of the camera surface—with a possible spoiler alert: Could it have been the operator with the glove in the plant? Read on and try your hand at solving all three FA mysteries. joanne.miller@asminternational.org Je rey Hanson with his FA Certificate at the Dome.
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