Page 8 - Failure Analysis Case Studies II

PREFACE

It is now three years since Elsevier Science published the first book of Failure Analysis Case
Studies selected fiom volumes 1,2 and 3 of the journal Engineering Failure Analysis. The book
has proved to be a sought-after and widely used source of reference material to help people avoid
or analyse engineering failures, design and manufacture for greater safety and economy, and
assess operating, maintenance and fitness-for-purpose procedures. In the last three years,
Engineering Failure Analysis has continued to build on its early success as an essential medium
for the publication of failure analysis cases studies and papers on the structure, properties and
behaviour of engineering materials as applied to real problems in structures, components and
design.

Failure Analysis Case Studies I1 comprises 40 case studies describing the analysis of real
engineering failures which have been selected from volumes 4, 5 and 6 of Engineering Failure
Analysis. The case studies have been arranged in sections according to the specific type of
failure mechanism involved. The failure mechanisms covered are overload, creep, brittle
fracture, fatigue, environmental attack, environmentally assisted cracking and bearing failures.
The book constitutes a reference set of real failure investigations which should be useful to
professionals and students in most branches of engineering. My sincere thanks go to the authors
of the case studies for finding the time to communicate their experiences to the wider world for
the benefit of us all.

D.R.H. Jones
May 2001