Nonmetallic materials of construction, such as FRP and thermoplastics, vary widely depending on the specific service and equipment. Reinforced laminates for instance, can be uniquely customized by resin and laminate construction. 

Thermoplastic material properties vary by class and also from one manufacturer to another.

Material properties constitute fundamental inputs in new design calculations. For this reason, making sure that material properties are verified by physical material testing is critical to ensure the highest level of certainty and confidence in the design of new piping and equipment.

Estimated properties can be acceptable for preliminary or non-critical work. However, when dealing with essential process piping and equipment material properties, physical testing is crucial to guarantee system reliability and performance.

This is an area where you can’t afford to take chances.

If the material properties are not assured and reliable, you can put the design at risk from the start, and you may not even know it.  It is imperative that you demand that tested material properties are provided on every project.

Failure investigations

Unfortunately, premature failures happen, and are likely to be very disruptive to a  plant’s operation! There are a variety of reasons and influences that potentially contribute to these troubling events.

Appropriate corrective measures need to be determined and implemented, so that the failures are not repeated.

In most cases, a root cause analysis as part of a broader failure investigation can reveal the cause and origin of the failure along with other contributing factors.

Maverick has an in-house materials physical testing laboratory with additional resources for chemical and other advanced testing options. We provide failure investigation services to support the needs of our clients and offer remediation solutions when needed.

Our goal is to identify issues and  deficiencies, to get you back on a path of reliability, focused on both performance and production.

In most cases it is not a single influence or event that leads to a failure. Most failures occur due to multiple overlapping contributing concerns.

To resolve these problems and identify their root cause and origin, Maverick offers an array of testing capabilities, which can bring clarity to why a failure occurred.

Here are some typical test methods that we implement to qualify materials in our process of failure investigation.

• Hydrostatic burst testing, in accordance with (IAW) ASTM D1599
• Tensile testing, IAW ASTM D638
• Tensile testing, IAW ASTM D3039
• Flexural testing, IAW ASTM D790
• Compression testing, IAW ASTM D695
• Hoop Tensile Strength, IAW ASTM D2290
• Parallel Plate Testing, IAW ASTM D2412
• Visual Defects Classification, IAW ASTM D2563
• Hardness testing, IAW ASTM D2583
• Ignition Loss, IAW ASTM D2584
• Hydrostatic Design Basis testing, IAW ASTM D2992
• Tensile Weld Strength, IAW ASTM C1147 (Thermoplastics)
• Flange Proof Testing, IAW ASTM D5421
• Friction testing
• Scanning Electron Microscopy
• Optical Microscopy
• Differential Scanning Calorimetry, IAW ASTM D3418
• Piping Product Qualification IAW ASME NM.2

Testing provides a basis for evaluation of materials by providing points of data. Our experience showcases the value of assessing the data and assembling a case of events from multiple viewpoints.

This allows us to develop the foundation of critical analysis to  identify the root cause, so that corrective measures can be developed that will in turn restore the integrity of the system or equipment.

Need assistance in qualifying a product or identifying the root cause or origin of a failure?

Analysis, when thing get BIG