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Failure Analysis - Wind Turbines
Utilize Lucideon's decades of expertise in qualifying and evaluating power generation materials to identify the root causes of failure in wind turbine hardware and systems. We perform failure investigations on materials ranging from concrete in the base support system to gearbox and complete generator failure, to support OEMs, owners, operators and insurance companies.
Examples of our work include:
- Turbine blade failure, and all turbine hardware
- Premature bearing failure
- Corrosion and wear-related failure of seal rings in an electric utility generator
- Root cause of deposit build-up on process equipment
- Trip failure in electrical relays
- Root cause analysis of failed rotor lead tabs
- Evaluation of crevice corrosion in generator stator bar brazed joints, leak path and insulation failure investigations
- Total generator failure
- Petrographic analysis of deteriorated concrete support systems.
Research & Development / Quality Control
Analyzing failures during the research and development stage, or during quality control testing, provides fundamental understanding of the material properties required for your specific application and environment, expediting the design phase and supplier quality validations.
Manufacturing – Optimization & Troubleshooting
Determining the root causes for variations in production can be utilized to determine processing windows, create stricter material specifications, and reduce creation of faulty parts.
Failures in Service
Lucideon provides independent failure investigation services that includes materials testing governed by the rigorous quality management system requirements of UKAS, ISO 17025, 10CFR50 Appendix B (nuclear), Nadcap (aerospace & defense), and GE S-400. Find out more about our accreditations here.
We can conduct site visits to examine the failure in its environment and provide advice on appropriate sample collection techniques and photographic documentation of evidence.
Examples of Analytical Capabilities
Analytical techniques ranging from visual inspection and photo documentation through microstructural and microchemical analysis are applied to investigate failures of all types.
- Specimen extraction through sectioning & wire EDM
- In-house CNC machine shop
- Chemical analysis
- Contamination and debris identification
- Fractography
- Metallographic preparation
- Metallurgical evaluation
- Image analysis / microscopy
- SEM-EDS / electron microprobe
- Advanced surface analysis
- Mechanical testing
- Thermal analysis
- Electrical testing
- Expert witness services.
Past Webinars
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Failure Analysis - What Engineers Need to Know
This webinar, presented by Sara Randall, Senior Materials Engineer, describes the general processes applied to a typical failure analysis of a metal component.
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Your Metal Component Has Failed in Fatigue - What do you do next?
This webinar, presented by Julius Bonini, Principal Consultant, Metallurgy, provides a blueprint for the typical procedures which should be applied when a component fails in fatigue.