Fractography Handbook of Spaceflight Metals

This handbook was produced with the intention of providing failure analysts who work with spaceflight metals a reference of SEM fractographs of fracture surfaces produced under known conditions. The metals and the fracture conditions were chosen to simulate situations that are encountered in spaceflight applications. This includes tensile overload at both room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature and fatigue at room temperature. The handbook of fractography is used in failure analyses to help identify service failures. Comparisons of an unknown fracture surface to those of known failure mode and environmental conditions have proven helpful in the past. Although there are several such handbooks available, the need for a comprehensive book of scanning electron fractographs of the metals and temperature conditions important to Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) applications has become evident. This book contains information on four common alloys used in spacecraft, including preparing samples for tensile overload and fatigue testing, preparing fracture specimens for examination in the scanning electron microscope (SEM), and documenting the fracture surfaces.