1. Challenges of failure analysis for plastic and composite parts

1.1 Causes of failure of polymer-based parts

Depending on the part's purpose, the manufacturer or user is faced with a part that may break (in the case of mechanical parts, for example), that may present a variation in surface condition or appearance (appearance parts), a variation in geometry, or a variation in certain characteristics (mechanical, physical...).

A part can therefore fail without necessarily being broken.

With regard to steel structures, for which we now have considerable experience feedback, we can see that, generally speaking, the primary cause of failure of mechanical parts and equipment is mechanical...