Sep
2015
01

The paper “Investigation of power failure of a heating device operated in a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC)” was published
Above paper on failure analysis was authored by Ms. Eugenia Spiropoulou and Dr. Dimitios Voulgaris from the Surface Science and Coatings Department, Dr. George Pantazopoulos from the Mechanical Testing and Manufacturing Technology Department of ELKEME S.A. and Mr. Jeremy Brown from Bridgnorth Aluminium Ltd. and was published by International Journal of Engineering Failure Analysis (Vol. 55 – p. 360-369) in September 2015. The paper focused on the root-cause analysis of failure of a heating device operated in DSC. Preliminary visual examination revealed a corroded copper base connected to a ruptured platinum ribbon which caused circuit interruption and the malfunction of the instrument. Optical stereo-microscopy together with Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy for elemental microanalysis were utilized as the principal analytical techniques for this investigation. The collected evidence supports the hypothesis of thermo-mechanical fatigue as the plausible damage mechanism. The final publication is available on Science Direct at www.sciencedirect.com.