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MADE 3.9.1 User Manual > Modelling > Failure Diagram > Failure Concepts

Mechanisms

Category Name (Mechanism) Synonyms Description Type
Corrosion Biological corrosion - Corrosive attack from the waste products of living organisms. Mechanical
Corrosion Cavitation corrosion - Acceleration of the corrosion process by cavitation-induced surface damage which continuously exposes unprotected material to a corrosive medium. Mechanical
Corrosion Corrosive attack Caustic attack, oxygen pitting, hydrogen damage, acid attack, chemical attack Degradation caused by the chemical reaction between two items, particularly metals and corrosive contaminants. Mechanical, Plastics, Electrical
Corrosion Corrosive fatigue - Accelerated corrosion of material due to fatigue cracks exposing fresh material to the corrosive agent. Mechanical
Corrosion Corrosive wear Wear corrosion Accelerated corrosion and wear in which wear removes corrosion protection and the hard, abrasive corrosion by-product that is removed acts as an abrasive agent. Mechanical
Corrosion Crevice corrosion - Localised corrosive attack by stagnant solution trapped between two surfaces and depleted of oxygen. Mechanical
Corrosion Electrolysis Electrovoltaic Corrosion Chemical change, especially decomposition, produced in an electrolyte by an electric current Mechanical, Electrical
Corrosion Erosion corrosion - Corrosion that is accelerated by an abrasive or viscid flow which removes surface materials and continuously exposes unprotected material to the corrosive medium. Mechanical
Corrosion Fretting corrosion - Corrosion accelerated by the repeated, small-amplitude rubbing action between two surfaces which removes the protective oxide layer. Mechanical
Corrosion Galvanic corrosion - Accelerated electrochemical corrosion that occurs when two dissimilar metals are made part of a circuit completed by an electrolyte or corrosive medium. Mechanical, Electrical
Corrosion Hydrogen attack - Diffusion of atomic hydrogen into metals causing blistering, embrittlement, decarburization and cracking. Mechanical, Plastics
Corrosion Intergranular corrosion - Localized corrosive attack occurring at the grain boundaries of certain copper, chromium, aluminum, magnesium and zinc alloys when they are improperly heat treated or welded. Mechanical
Corrosion Pitting corrosion - Localized corrosive attack that leads to the development of an array of holes or pits that penetrate the metal. Mechanical
Corrosion Selective leaching - A form of corrosion in which one element is preferentially removed from an alloy to obtain a metal that is more resistant to the intended environment. Mechanical
Corrosion Stress corrosion cracking - Degradation process due to applied stress on a part in a corrosive environment, generating a field of localized surface cracks, usually along grain boundaries. Mechanical, Plastics
Elastic deformation Bending deformation - Deformation of a body under bending loading. Mechanical
Elastic deformation Buckling - A sudden collapse of a member under 'column' compression load due to elastic instability. Mechanical
Elastic deformation Compression deformation - Deformation of a body under compression loads, which results in contraction of the body in one dimension. Mechanical
Elastic deformation Shear deformation - Deformation of a body under shear loading, characterized by the relative sliding of planar sections of the material. Mechanical
Elastic deformation Temperature induced deformation - Generalized deformation of a part due to differential or uneven shrinkage/expansion generated by a change in temperature. Mechanical, Plastics
Elastic deformation Tensile deformation Extension Elastic extension of a part under the action of a tensile load. Mechanical
Elastic deformation Thermal contraction - Contraction of a part due to imposed operational temperatures. Mechanical
Elastic deformation Thermal expansion - Expansion of a part due to imposed operational temperatures. Mechanical
Elastic deformation Torsion deformation - Twisting deformation of a part under applied torsional loads. Mechanical
Electrical Al/Au intermetallic formation - Formation of intermetallic compounds between metal layers of aluminum and gold that changes the mechanical properties of composite films. Electrical
Electrical Burnout - The final result of a parametric degradation occurring during long-term aging and leading to an increased, localized power density dissipation. Electrical
Electrical Channel Degradation - Changes in the quality and purity of the active channel area, a result of diffusion of dopants out of the channel or diffusion of impurities or defects from the substrate to the channel. Electrical
Electrical Crosstalk - Electrical interference where a transmitted signal in one line produces an undesirable effect on another line. Electrical
Electrical Dielectric breakdown - Degradation of dielectric material when the electric field strength surpasses the dielectric strength of an insulator. Electrical
Electrical Electrostatic discharge Spark discharge, electrostatic spark, ESD Buildup of static electricity and its sudden release that can potentially cause injury or damage components. Electrical
Electrical Gate oxide breakdown - Flow of current through the Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor structure until the time after which voltage drops to zero. Electrical
Electrical Glow discharge - Sufficient voltage between two contacts that causes the region near the cathode to heat and glow. Electrical
Electrical Ground bounce - Shifts in the internal ground reference voltage due to output switching or poor ground connections. Electrical
Electrical Hot carrier effects - A phenomenon in solid-state electronic devices where an electron or a hole gains sufficient kinetic energy to become trapped or injected into a non-ideal area leading to degradation or instability of the item. Electrical
Electrical Jitter - A scenario where a signal is experiencing variations in periodic timing. Electrical
Electrical Reflections - A scenario where a portion of a signal comes back to the origin. Electrical
Electrical Ringing Ripple An oscillation of a signal due to a sudden change in input. Electrical
Fatigue Contact fatigue - Crack formation due to rolling contact. Mechanical
Fatigue Fretting fatigue - Combined action of fretting and fatigue crack growth which leads to premature fatigue fracture. Mechanical
Fatigue High cycle fatigue - Crack initiation and growth due to cyclic application of strains that extend mainly into elastic range with failure occurring after 50,000 cycles. Mechanical, Plastics
Fatigue Impact fatigue - Growth of cracks due to repetitive impact loading. Mechanical
Fatigue Low cycle fatigue - Crack initiation and progression caused by the cyclic application of strains that extend into plastic range to produce failure in about 10,000 cycles or less. Mechanical
Fatigue Thermal fatigue - Progressive localized structural damage to either wholly or partially constrained part resulting from cyclic strains due to temperature fluctuations. Mechanical, Plastics
Fracture Brittle fracture - Fracture characterized by no apparent plastic deformation prior to rupture. Mechanical, Plastics
Fracture Compression fracture - Fracture induced by a compressive load. Mechanical, Plastics
Fracture Creep stress fracture Creep stress rupture Creep deformation process due to a combination of applied stress and high temperature over a period of time, which leads to rupture. Mechanical, Plastics
Fracture Ductile fracture - Fracture characterized by extensive plastic deformation prior to complete elastic rupture. Mechanical, Plastics
Fracture Explosive decompression - The sudden release of absorbed gas from within an elastomer, during which the gas blisters and ruptures the elastomer surface as the pressure is rapidly removed. Plastics
Fracture Impact fracture - High stresses and strains due to impact which cause separation of part into two or more pieces. Mechanical, Plastics
Fracture Intercrystalline fracture - Brittle fracture that occurs along grain boundaries in polycrystalline materials, often beginning at a point where impurities or precipitates accumulate. Mechanical, Electrical
Fracture Shear fracture - Fracture characterized by the relative sliding of two planar surfaces of the material. Mechanical
Fracture Tearing - A tensile failure in thin materials characterized by a fracture initiating at one edge and propagating across. Mechanical, Plastics
Fracture Tensile fracture Tensile rupture Fracture characterized by the axial extension and separation of the broken parts. Mechanical
Material decomposition Coking - The thermal decomposition of a hydrocarbon liquid into a solid mass of impure carbon. Mechanical
Material decomposition Ionization - Any process by which neutral molecules or atoms dissociate to form positively and negatively charged particles. Mechanical, Electrical
Material decomposition Thermal decomposition - The breakdown of large molecules into smaller molecules due to exposure of the material to temperatures greatly exceeding its thermal stability point. Mechanical, Plastics
Material degradation Actinic reactions - Chemical changes caused by light and heat and other forms of radiant energy, signs of degradation may include blisters, cracks, voids or discoloration. Mechanical, Electrical, Plastics
Material degradation Blistering - Rapid outgassing of moisture absorbed by insulating materials during soldering or other exposure high temperature. Mechanical, Electrical
Material degradation Crazing - Growth and coalescence of microvoids and tendrils within a plastics. Mechanical, Plastics
Material degradation Dislocation - The displacement of atoms in a crystal due to stresses above it elastic material, which creates a defect within the crystal. Mechanical, Electrical
Material degradation Embrittlement - Reduction of ductility/toughness in a metal or plastic with negligible change in other mechanical properties. Mechanical, Electrical, Plastics
Material degradation Interconnect Stress Voiding - Migration of atoms within the metal interconnect to form voids which then grow and cause open circuits. Mechanical, Electrical
Material degradation Intermetallic formation - Formation of intermetallic compounds between metal layers that changes the mechanical properties of composite films. Mechanical, Electrical
Material degradation Kirkendal Voiding - Intermetallic growth resulting from the diffusion of one material into another via crystal vacancies made available by defects and enhanced in time by high temperature. Electrical
Material degradation Oxidation - The reaction of a material with oxygen to form an oxide compound. Mechanical, Plastics
Material degradation Plasma degradation - Degradation of elastomers exposed to plasma, resulting in discoloration, surface erosion and formation of powdered residue. Mechanical, Plastics
Material degradation Plasticizer extraction - The loss of an additive used to control hardness, plasticity and low temperature characteristics of an elastomer. Plastics
Material degradation Radiation damage - Changes in material properties induced by exposure to a radiation field. Mechanical, Electrical, Plastics
Material degradation Recession Loss - Material loss in Silicon containing ceramics at high temperature due to a combination of oxidation and sublimation of volatile by-products. -
Material degradation Thermal degradation - Irreversible and undesirable change in the properties of a material due to exposure to heat. Mechanical, Electrical, Plastics
Material interface Delamination - Debonding and separation of adjacent layers of material. Mechanical, Electrical
Material interface Interfacial de-adhesion - A delamination or adhesion failure at an interface. Mechanical, Electrical
Material interface Stiction Adhesion The adhesion of two polished surfaces to one another when they come into contact. Mechanical, Electrical
Material transfer Absorption - A process in which one substance permeates another. Mechanical
Material transfer Buildup of debris - Deposition and accumulation of solid contaminants. Mechanical
Material transfer Diffusion - Migration of molecules from one solid material into another solid material at their contact surfaces. Mechanical, Electrical
Material transfer Electromigration - The mass transport of the metal due to momentum transfer between the conducting electrons and the diffusing metal atoms. Electrical
Material transfer Ice formation - Any deposit or coating of ice on an object caused by the impact of liquid, usually supercooled. Mechanical
Material transfer Outgassing - The release of adsorbed or occluded gases or water vapor, usually by heating, in a vacuum. Mechanical, Plastics
Material transfer Silting - The deposition of particulate contaminants from a flowing liquid medium. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Brinelling - Special case of local yielding when the normal forces between two curved, mating surfaces are excessive. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Creep - Accumulation of plastic deformation in a part over a period of time under the influence of stress and temperature, causing excessive deformation or rupture. Mechanical, Plastics
Plastic deformation Creep buckling - Accumulation of plastic deformation due to a combination of compression and high temperatures over a period of time, that results in buckling instability of the material. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Crushing - Compression failure characterized by highly localized, permanent contraction of a material. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Extrusion - Displacement of material through a confined space under the action of contact pressure, hydrostatic pressure or thermal expansion. Mechanical, Plastics
Plastic deformation Galling - Adhesion welding between two sliding surfaces which leads to tearing, plowing, gouging and significant plastic deformation of surface asperities. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Impact deformation - Plastic deformation due to impact. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Necking - Plastic strains due to tensile loads which generate a reduction in cross-sectional area of the material. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Stress relaxation - Non-linear material behavior in which stress is relieved under constant strain. Mechanical, Plastics
Plastic deformation Thermal relaxation - Dimensional changes due to creep process resulting in the relaxation of a pre-strained or pre-stressed part. Mechanical
Plastic deformation Yielding - Plastic deformation of a part caused by the imposed operational loads or strains. Mechanical, Plastics
Software Buffer overflow attach BSS overflow, Stack Overflow, Heap Overflow. A function pointer in BSS/heap has been altered to point at a hostile script. Software
Software Cross site request forgery attack Session Riding, One-click attacks, Hostile linking, Automation attack. A malicious script has executed unwanted actions on an application with an authenticated user. Software
Software Domain error - The wrong process is executed based on the input values. Software
Software DOS attack DDOS, Smurf attack, Teardrop attack, SYN Flood, UDP flood, ACMP flood, POD attack, slowloris, NTP Amplification attack, HTTP flood, Zero-day attack. The machine or application is flooded with excessive requests, enough to overload the system. Software
Software File inclusion attack RFI attack, LFI attack. A malicious file is included in a script on the web server. Software
Software Input Error Incorrect input values User input values or input values from hardware deviate from what is expected. Software
Software Memory Error Memory leak, incorrect memory management. An error specifically associated with a lack of available memory or the mismanagement of memory. Software
Software Incorrect priority Priority violation, incorrect priority. Incorrect priorities have been set for processes. Software
Software Injection attack SQL, LDAP, Blind Xpath, Xquery, OS Command injection. Malicious scripts are relayed through a user input onto the attacked application. Software
Software Structural error - The software architecture is designed ineffectively causing defects. Software
Software Timing mismatch - An error with timing or serialization that relies on accurate use of real-time resources. Software
Software XSS attach Stored XSS, Reflected XSS. Malicious scripts are injected and stored onto the database through a web request. Software
State change Cavitation - Formation and collapse of vapor bubbles in a flowing liquid which generates high, localized loading on the containing surface. Mechanical
State change Condensation - Transformation of a substance from gaseous to liquid state. Mechanical, Electrical
State change Desiccation - The process of extreme drying or moisture loss. Mechanical
State change Evaporation - Transformation of a substance from liquid to gaseous state. Mechanical
State change Heat loss Heat dissipation Energy or power transmitted out of a system in the form of heat. Mechanical
State change Melting - Transformation of a substance from the solid to liquid state. Mechanical, Electrical
State change Micro-dieseling - Adiabatic compression of air bubbles in aerated oil under high pressure and temperature, resulting in very high localized temperatures and thermal degradation of the oil. Mechanical
State change Solidification - The process of becoming hard or solid by cooling, drying or crystallization. Mechanical
State change Sublimation - Transition from solid to gaseous state without passing through the liquid state. Mechanical
Wear Abrasive wear - The loss of material from a solid surface due to abrasion by hard particles or protuberances. Mechanical, Plastics
Wear Adhesive wear - The rupture and loss of surface asperities from a solid surface due to a high local pressure and welding at contacting asperities followed by motion-induced plastic deformation. Mechanical
Wear Deformation wear - Growth of surface, due to repeated plastic deformation, that coalesce to form wear particles. Mechanical
Wear Erosion - The wearing action of an abrasive or viscid fluid or gas on an exposed surface, which results in removal of material from the exposed surface. Mechanical, Plastics
Wear Fretting wear - Wear that occurs at the contact area between two materials under load and subject to minute relative motion by vibration or some other force. Mechanical
Wear Impact fretting - Fretting wear that is accelerated by the combination of sliding and impact motions. impact is generated by the loss of fit, which allows small, lateral displacements between two surfaces. Mechanical
Wear Impact wear - Cracks propagating due to impact deformation that causes the spalling out of particles to form wear pits. Mechanical
Wear Surface fatigue wear - Cyclic shear stress produced in the subsurface material leading to crack growth causing the loss of surface material. Mechanical

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