scope:

The success of a failure analysis depends to a great extent on the care with which it is planned, the type and extent of the individual steps in the investigation process, as well as the quality of their performance.

In order to systematically assess experience gained through failure analyses, and to share this experience with others, uniformity is required. Hence, the purpose of this guideline is to

• provide definitions of terms,
• designate and describe types of failure in a uniform manner,
• provide direction in systematically performing failure analyses,
• ensure the comparability of the results obtained by different analytical laboratories and
• establish requirements for comprehensible documentation.

The users of the series of guidelines VDI 3822 will be provided with images of characteristic failure modes, as well as descriptions of failure and failure mechanisms in subsequent parts, so that these can be compared with the failure to be analysed. The individual parts are organised according to the situation encountered in analysing failures: Beginning with the failure mode, they go on to provide support in determining potential failure hypotheses and failure mechanisms, and subsequently provide information useful in determining the source of the failure.

The guideline not only takes cases of individual failure into consideration (i.e. the singular failure of an individual product), but also serial failures (i.e. failures, that occur in the same way in many products).

The series of guidelines VDI 3822 applies to failure analyses for products made of materials from all materials groups, including composite and compound materials.