Since 1983 Touchsone Research Laboratory has provided fast, accurate and affordable failure analysis to a wide range of industries – from underground mines to advanced spacecraft.

Touchstone’s failure analysis team has access to a technology campus of technical equipment and scientific and engineering expertise.

The Touchstone Advantage:

With two acres under roof, Touchstone is the largest commercial failure analysis, R&D and testing facility in the region.

Our equipment includes electron microscopes, a chemistry laboratory, a metallographic and petrographic laboratory, a world-class mechanical testing facility, physical testing capabilities, a well-equipped corrosion laboratory, machine shops, prototype foundry, rolling mills and a full composites facility. This unique combination has created an excellent foundation for defect analysis and root cause analysis.

Over the years Touchstone has performed thousands of failure investigations. Among the typical failure mechanisms studied are:

  • Corrosion
  • Pitting Corrosion
  • Hydrogen Embrittlement
  • Liquid Metal Embrittlement
  • Fatigue
  • Wear Fractures
  • Crevice Corrosion
  • Stress Corrosion Crackin
  • Intergranular Corrosion
  • Marine Corrosion
  • Galvanic Corrosion
  • Ductile and Brittle Fractures
  • Uniform Corrosion

Prevention:

Once a failure mechanism is determined, Touchstone engineers can often recommend preventions to reduce the probability of a recurrence of the failure again. Touchstone engineers use scientific failure analysis methods, including traditional tools such as root cause analysis.

New Design Center:

Touchstone’s new Design & Analysis Center provides the opportunity to model failures using finite element analysis, computerized fluid dynamics, and otherr specialized modeling software.

Failure Reconstruction:

Combining Touchstone’s design, analysis, fabrication and testing capabilities, failed parts can be recreated and tested in the laboratory to reproduce the failure mode.

Failure Analysis can lead to New Developments:

In some cases, the insight generated during a failure analysis has led to ongoing research and development at Touchstone, developing next generation products.

Certifications: 

Touchstone is ISO 9001:2000 with Design & AS9100 Revision B as well as Nadcap Certified.

Location:

Touchstone’s technology park is located along I-70, about 1 hour’s drive from the Pittsburgh airport and 30 minutes from Washington, PA.

Come visit us

Come and get to know us. We value building long term relationships. The better we understand you and the issues you face, the better service we can offer.

Contact us today to discuss your failure analysis needs.