Litigation Services

Forensic engineering is the investigation of-materials, products, structures  or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing accidents or damage to property. The consequences of failure are dealt with by the law of product liability. The field also deals with retracing processes and procedures leading to accidents in operation of vehicles or machinery. The subject is applied most commonly in civil law cases, although it may be of use in criminal law cases. Generally, the purpose of a forensic energy investigation is to locate cause or causes of failure with a view to improve performance or life of a component, or to assist a court in determining the facts of an accident . It can also involve investigation of intellectual  claims, especially patents .

Our Litigation Support and Expert Consulting Capabilities include:

• Product Liability Review
• Intellectual Property
• Forensic Engineering  Documentation
• Metallurgical Expert Witness
• On Site Engineering Investigation
• Court accepted science and technology such as FEA and CFD.

We support all aspect of your legal case technically in all aspects of your forensic cases, from the beginning to see whether or not you have a case and if you do, how strong is your case.  We just do not provide an opinion, we support our findings and conclusions by investigation, scientific testing, and accurate analysis, all acceptable by applicable codes and standard.  If there is a failure involved, we perform the latest technology in failure analysis to determine its root cause.  Using a multidisciplinary approach, we perform design review, stress analysis, metallurgical testing, and check fabrication processes.

Our expert’s experience and knowledge in the following fields of science and engineering are put to work to achieve the final results and conclusions which will be provided in the expert reports and presentations:

Our Areas of Expertise

• ASME Codes & Standards
• Cavitation
• Consumer Products Safety
• Conveyors
• Compressors
• Corrosion Failures
• Cranes & Excavators
• Design Analysis
• Escalator
• Equipment & Machinery
• Failure Analysis
• Fatigue Failure
• Fitness Equipment
• Forensic Engineering
• Forklifts
• Heat Exchangers Failure
• Labels & Warnings
• Ladders & Scaffolds
• Latches & Fasteners
• Machine Guarding
• Manufacturing Standards
• Materials
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Medical Devices
• Metallurgy
• Motorcycles
• National Electric Safety Code (NESC)
• Nuclear Engineering
• OSHA
• Paint & Coatings
• Personal Injury
• Pipelines
• Pressure Vessel Failure
• Products Design & Liability
• Refineries
• Safety Engineering
• Seat Belts
• Slip & Fall
• Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)
• Truck 5^th Wheel Design & Failure
• Uniform Building Code
• Vibration Analysis

Our technical field of expertise include : Statics, Dynamics, Vibrations, Solid Mechanics, Metallurgy, Corrosion, Coating, Fatigue, Creep, Fracture Mechanics, Crack Growth Calculations, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and  Finite Element Modeling & Simulation.

Metallurgical Testing and  Failure Analysis is the process by which a material engineer determines the mechanism that has caused a component to fail. Typical failure modes involve various types of cracking modes and corrosion attack

Metal components fail as a result of conditions to which they are exposed to as well as the stress that they experience. Often a combination of both environmental conditions and stress will cause failure.

Metal components are designed to withstand the environment and stresses that they will be subjected to. A metallurgist takes into account as much of this information as possible during analysis. The end goal of failure analysis is to provide a determination of the root cause and a solution to any underlying problems to prevent future failures. Failure and damage analysis services include for example: material assessment, metals investigation, fracture study, electronics evaluation, fire damage investigation, design review and many more.

Analysis of a failed part can be done using destructive  metallurgical testing. Destructive testing involves removing a metal component from service and sectioning the component for analysis. Destructive testing gives our  failure analyst the ability to conduct the analysis in the lab and perform tests on the material that will ultimately destroy the component. Non destructive testing is a test method that allows certain physical properties of metal to be examined without taking the samples completely out of service. NDT is generally used to detect failures in components before the component fails catastrophically.

Our Capabilities In Failure Analysis Include:

Multidisciplinary forensic investigatory services help clients in diverse industries and markets

• Hydro power generation, utilities, and transmission lines
• Corrosion related and structural failure
• Mining industries
• Petroleum production and refining
• Petrochemicals and chemicals manufacturing plants
• Manufacturing plants including semiconductor manufacturing
• Pipelines and distribution systems
• Specialty products for commercial and residential uses
• Wastewater and waste treatment systems and plants

We are here to help

We respond to all clients promptly by sending a technical proposal to address testing, investigation and the proposal costs. If we need more information, our engineers will contact you.

Whether you are a large corporation or a small enterprise, we will provide you with the attention you need and deserve. In so doing, we hope to work with you for many years to come.

Please call Dr. Zee our NACE Certified Corrosion/Cathodic Protection Specialist at 412-952-9441, and let us know how we can assist you in your investigation. Alternatively, you can send your request to info@matergenics.com.

Looking forward to hearing from you!