Damage survey of polymeric and composite structures in the mechanical engineering industry

Despite efforts to produce high-quality parts in polymeric or composite materials, untimely failures may occur because of defective manufacturing, data not taken into account in the design, or misuse of structures. Skilled post mortem failure analysis provides much information shedding light on the manufacturing and design phases, enabling improvement of the quality of the structures. Failure analysis of mechanical parts made of polymeric or composite materials takes the same approach as for metals. It is based on various complementary methods of investigation and enable us to hypothesise and conceive different and progressively more precise avenues of research to determine the most probable causes. We show how failure problems involving polymeric and composite materials in the mechanical industry may be resolved. The approach is illustrated through real cases. We also consider the economic implications of failures in the industrial world, based on the skills and knowledge acquired by CETIM.