Embrittlement Testing
If a material fails in service, and embrittlement is suspected, then mechanical testing, chemical testing, and fractography can be performed to measure any loss of ductility.
If a material fails in service, and embrittlement is suspected, then mechanical testing, chemical testing, and fractography can be performed to measure any loss of ductility.
Embrittlement of materials can be caused by several reasons: leaching a plasticizer from a polymer, lowering a material below its ductile-to-brittle transition temperature, or hydrogen embrittlement of a steel.
It is very important to know the environmental conditions that any embrittled material was exposed to.
Each chemical analysis and mechanical test has its own sampling requirements.
One example of embrittlment testing we've done is analyzing plasticizers leaching from various plastics.