Injection failure analysis

Objective. Know why a part fails after the first uses

Our client, a manufacturer of end-user equipment, has seen how the number of returns of a piece of equipment has skyrocketed due to the deterioration of one of the plastic parts after the first uses. They need an urgent solution to modify their production process that requires knowing the origin of the problem.

Solution. Analysis and characterization by TGA, DSC, FESEM and EDX to determine the origin of the failure

The first step was to learn from our client both the material and the production process, in this case an injection process, and the use that the end customers were giving it. During the study we used a piece with the aesthetic problem, a new one and also virgin plastic, to be able to evaluate the properties and find out where the origin of this problem was.

As a second step, we worked on the selection and definition of the tests that could give us information about the problem. We selected TGA, DSC and FESEM with EDX as characterization techniques.

The TGA and DSC already provided us with many clues, since they inform us of the thermal history of the part, and we could already see that the injection had not been carried out at the correct temperature. With the characterization by FESEM with EDX we were able to discover the presence of calcium remains that, combined with the injection temperature failure, were generating the aesthetic problem in the piece with the first uses.

With all this information, our client was able to quickly correct the injection parameters so that their production was restored without further complaints and with its usual high quality.