Field Failure Investigation

Client

Cannot disclose due to confidentiality agreement.

Challenge

The client was experiencing brittleness with their product in the field. No change in the process or materials throughout the supply chain could be identified. The complaints were consistent, with no apparent geographical connection.

Solution

Working with the performance specifications for the material supplied by the client, Aspen performed material analyses on parts received directly from the supplier, right off the manufacturing line, and failed parts from the field.

The team identified the type of failure that was occurring, and narrowed the cause to a few "suspects." An ink used on the product was analyzed and determined to be a potential cause. To validate this, Aspen:

• Aspen developed a method for measuring the migration of the ink across the material and quantified the migration rate
• Aspen then determined the amount of ink that would be required to cause the brittleness and using the migration rate determined how long it would take to see the brittleness in the field.
• Comparing this information to the reported failures, there was good confidence that the ink was the source.
• Once the ink was determined to be the source, Aspen was asked to identify alternative inks that would not migrate, and not cause the plastic composite to become brittle.
• Aspen developed a design of experiments to identify which ink candidates would satisfy the criteria

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