Selected Answers

From Michael Halliwell of Thurber Engineering Ltd. on April 11, 2018:
Ben and Steve hit the nail on the head. From resea ...read more Ben and Steve hit the nail on the head. From research, I can say that collecting all the data is important and seeing the emerging patterns is critical too, but even if you know how things are supposed to work, it does not mean that they worked that way. Being open minded, setting aside bias and what you "know" happens are critical to finding out what really did happen.

From Anne Andrews of Sherwin-Williams on April 11, 2018:
Get all the application conditions: temp of air, m ...read more Get all the application conditions: temp of air, material and substrate; relative humidity; time between coats; sweat time; potlife; thickness of film; film defects; hardness/ tackiness; identity of coatings; and any contamination or adhesion- interfering substances.

From Bill Jenkins of International Paint LLC on April 11, 2018:
There are many factors in failure analysis that ar ...read more There are many factors in failure analysis that are not only important, but also essential. One of the most important is to have the ability to recognize patterns as they point to the root cause(s).

From suresh kumar of vgs on April 11, 2018:
Yes, true. It is most important to have an OPEN MI ...read more Yes, true. It is most important to have an OPEN MIND, FREE OF BIAS.

From Steve Brunner of Indepenent on April 10, 2018:
There are several important factors in any investi ...read more There are several important factors in any investigation, but perhaps the most important is to approach the investigation with an open mind, one free of bias. When performing the investigation in this fashion, one is able to analysis all the information provided objectively. When there is a bias, the investigator often has tunnel vision and may not find the root cause and thus future failures could occur.