Preventative Maintenance and Failure Analysis of Aircraft Components

More than 10 years ago, the three major causes of failures in the Israel Air Force were: maintenance (-16% of failures), manufacturing (~14%), and design (-12%). While fatigue (~34%) and overload (~23%) were the two major failure mechanisms, more than 10% of failures were related to corrosion mechanisms. These include stress corrosion cracking, corrosion fatigue, localized corrosion, hot corrosion, uniform corrosion, etc. In this presentation, we provide several definitions of important terms related to failure analysis, present a recommended failure analysis protocol, and summarize several case studies of aircraft components that failed due to corrosion-involving mechanisms. Implementation of routine condition monitoring techniques (such as ferrography) and failure analysis protocols is valuable in preventing failure recurrence. Ferrography is a method for particles isolation on a glass slide, based upon the interaction between an external magnetic field and the magnetic moments of the particles suspended in a flow stream. By quantifying the number and size of captured particles and determining their chemical composition, shape and surface morphology, the origin, mechanism and level of wear may be determined. Here, we briefly review the application of ferrography in monitoring the health of aircraft assemblies.