Failure Analysis Expert Thomas Read

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Expert Background: Dr. Thomas L. Read is the Principal and CEO at A. Read Consulting, LLC. He received his PhD. from Stanford University in 1972 and has over 25 years of manufacturing experience in electronics, metallurgy, factory safety, failure analysis, glass fracture, glass failure and bottle failure. As a member of the electronics industry, he has earned process patents and has an extensive background in manufacturing techniques.

In parallel, Dr. Read has spent over twenty five years as a consultant to attorneys and engineers. He has given more than 100 depositions and has appeared in court numerous times.

Company Profile: Read Consulting, LLC is a full service laboratory providing services in the following areas:

Failure Analysis; Factory Safety and Personal Injury (including machine guards and manufacturing safety)

Glass Failure Analysis - Glass Fracture, Glass Failures and Bottle Failure

Metal and Ceramic Failure

Grinding Wheel Failures

Intellectual Property and Patent Disputes

Product Liability and Product Quality

Manufacturing Disagreements (such as Intellectual Property, Failed equipment and Contract Disputes)

Reverse Engineering

• Read Process Expertise Services Available

• Read Consulting Failure Analysis Blog

• View Publications by Thomas Read

• Video of Tempered Glass Failure

12/20/2023 · Failure Analysis

Soda Bottle Failure Analysis

By: Dr. Thomas Read

California materials failure laboratory, Read Consulting Failure Analysis Laboratory was engaged to determine the cause of failure of a 12 oz soda bottle. This bottle was said to have exploded and caused injury to a person. The bottle was said to have spontaneously exploded as the was being pushed into a cooler filled with ice.

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2/17/2023 · Failure Analysis

Design Defect Failure Analysis of Water Shut Off Valve

By: Dr. Thomas Read

When this type of valve is open a rubber seal around the valve stem prevents leaking. In this case, the poly acetate stem deteriorated due to the presence of hot chlorinated water This allowed water to leak out. Over time the leak rate increased.

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10/24/2022 · Failure Analysis

Titanium Surgical Screws Failure Analysis

By: Dr. Thomas Read

Read Consulting Failure Analysis Laboratory was engaged to determine the cause of failure of two titanium surgical screws used in corrective back surgery. These were both 6.5 mm diameter, 40mm long screws that were surgically implanted. in a patient, and they subsequently failed.

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4/20/2022 · Failure Analysis

Glass Coffee Pot Failure Analysis: Thermal Shock Failure Of Borosilicate Glass Coffee Carafe

By: Dr. Thomas Read

The fatigue failure initiated on the outside bottom where the carafe had been scratched with the abrasive scrub pad. As a result of cyclical thermal shock (between 195°C and 15°C), the cracks grew progressively till it reached a critical length. Glass thickness at the origins is approximately 3 mm. One failed after 12.

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4/12/2021 · Failure Analysis

Glass Failure Analysis: Glass Oven Dish Failure

By: Dr. Thomas Read

The annealed borosilicate glass pie plate failed as a result of “thermal shock”. There were multiple origins for the failure, and these all initiated at damage sites on the bottom of the Pyrex baking dish. It appears that the bottom of the pie plate was convex. Thus, setting the dish down and moving it on hard (abrasive) surfaces such as tile or granite counters created bottom “rim” damage.

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9/6/2017 · Failure Analysis

Liquid Impact Glass Failure Analysis

By: Dr. Thomas Read

As "water hammer" (i.e. liquid impact) has the potential to cause glass bottle failure, Read Consulting LLC created two such failures to study the resulting fracture surface details.

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4/23/2015 · Failure Analysis

Weld Failure Analysis: Chair Failure Due to Inadequate Weld

By: Dr. Thomas Read

Read Consulting was asked to determine why a welded chair failed and caused injury to the person sitting in it.

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2/3/2014 · Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis: Manufacturing Engineer Examines the Root Cause of Automobile Rear View Mirror Failures

By: Dr. Thomas Read

The root cause of the failure of customer returns of heated automobile rear view mirrors was investigated.

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8/7/2012 · Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis: Metal Fatigue of Automatic Machinery - Wafer Test Station

By: Dr. Thomas Read

During normal operation, the arm on an automatic wafer test station failed. Root cause failure analysis determined that the drive shaft on the right angle gear motor used to raise and lower the manipulator arm had failed first.

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5/21/2012 · Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis: Product Liability & Personal Injury Involving a Broken Grinding Wheel

By: Dr. Thomas Read

This grinding wheel was part of a product liability and personnel injury case. It was claimed that the subject wheel had unexpectedly failed (i.e. flown apart) and an escaping piece had hit the plaintiff in the face causing serious injuries. According to the user, the grinder with the wheel was purchased approximately one hour before the grinding wheel failure.

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3/29/2012 · Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis: Collapse of Plastic Chair

By: Dr. Thomas Read

A failed plastic lawn chair was examined to determine the cause of failure. This chair failed on the premises of a restaurant In this study the subject chair is examined and compared to several exemplar purchased at the same time. The objective of this study is to determine the cause of failure.

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11/8/2011 · Failure Analysis

Root Cause Failure Analysis of Tempered Glass Door

By: Dr. Thomas Read

Glass Failure Analysis Expert Witness performs a failure analysis of a several tempered glass doors that had "spontaneously" failed at a construction site. The objective of this glass failure analysis is to determine the cause of failure and make recommendations to the contractor.

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8/30/2011 · Failure Analysis

Metal Failure Analysis: Metal Food Contaminant Failure Analysis

By: Dr. Thomas Read

Materials failure analysis expert performs a failure analysis to determine the source of a metal piece found in tomato product.

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5/17/2011 · Failure Analysis

Plumbing Failure Analysis: Stress Corrosion Cracking of Yellow Brass

By: Dr. Thomas Read

A plumbing failure analysis was performed to determine why a cold water supply line to a bathroom sink had failed after only one year of service.

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4/1/2011 · Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis of a "Exploding" Beer Bottle: Product Defect, Product Liability

By: Dr. Thomas Read

A glass failure expert witness performs a root cause failure analysis on an exploding beer bottle. The object of this root cause failure analysis is to determine the cause of the bottle failure.

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7/7/2009 · Design

White Paper: Reverse Engineering

By: Dr. Thomas Read

Before expending the effort necessary to reverse engineer a device or object, it must be definite that the object under study is not covered by one or more patents. This avoids a dispute over patent violations. Once it has been established that no patent coverage exists, one can use multiple techniques to reverse engineer a product. These are summarized below:

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7/7/2009 · Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis of a Failed Ceramic Water Holding Tank on a Toilet

By: Dr. Thomas Read

The cracked tank was first inspected in the "as received" condition. In this condition it was cracked, but it was still whole. Next, the failed tank was separated by pulling it apart. This was done to expose the fracture surfaces of the main crack. This allowed for a complete failure analysis and for a determination of where the crack initiated.

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7/7/2009 · Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis of a Broken Jam Jar

By: Dr. Thomas Read

Glass fractography is the most effective method for determining why a glass object, such as a bottle, failed. This technique consists of examining the fracture surfaces of the failure for artifacts such as Wallner lines and using them to trace the crack back to its origin. Once the origin has been identified, it can be examined in detail with a microscope to determine the cause of the failure.

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1/28/2006 · Failure Analysis

Wine Bottle Failure Analysis

By: Dr. Thomas Read

Note: Glass Fractography is the most effective method for determining why a glass object, such as a bottle, failed. This technique consists of examining the fracture surfaces of the failure for artifacts such as Wallner lines and using them to trace the crack back to its origin

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Related areas of expertise

Arbitration Construction Accident Preventionand Safety Construction Quality Control Corrosion and Wear Failures Analysis Electronic Engineering Failure Analysis Glass Engineering Industrial Processes and Controls Machinery Accident Prevention Manufacturing Engineering Materials Engineering Mechanical Failure Metals Patent Infringement / Application Polymers Product Liability / Defects Protective Coatings - Paint