UP Diliman (UPD) will soon have a Failure Analysis Hub (FA Hub) at the UPD Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering (DMMME).
The University formalized the establishment of an FA Hub through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the SEM-CALACA Power Corporation (SCPC) and the UP Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc. (UPERDFI).
The FA Hub is expected to be a self-sustaining facility that plays a key role in the department’s instruction, research, and extension work.
The DMMME will implement a five-year project to set up the FA Hub, with an initial investment of nearly PHP3 million from SCPC. UPERDFI will act as custodian of the donations and serve as liaison between UP and SCPC.
The DMMME will consolidate its Adaptive Metallurgy and Metallography laboratories under the FA hub, providing them with the necessary equipment to conduct failure analysis.
According to the MOA, “Failure analysis is an important multidisciplinary field in materials and metallurgical engineering that analyzes how and why materials like concrete or metals (such as those used in construction and semiconductors) fail or break down and stop functioning as they should.”
Failure analysis is a sought-after service in different industries, and while some testing services related to failure analysis are currently available at the DMMME in the Adaptive Metallurgy and the Metallography laboratories, the delivery of these services is “highly dependent on the availability of manpower.”
The FA Hub project includes funding for hiring and training of full-time FA Hub personnel, provisions for a project leader and assistant from the DMMME faculty, and integration of the hub’s activities into the FA-related courses offered by the department.
The FA Hub aims to establish a research group specializing in failure analysis and offer failure analysis packages to industry clients.
The tripartite MOA was signed at the DMMME building on July 17 by UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, UPERDFI President Angelito D. Bermudo, and SCPC President Maria Cristina C. Gotianun. Standing as witnesses were Lean G. Depusoy, corporation operations manager of SEM-Calaca Power, UPD College of Engineering Dean Maria Antonia N. Tanchuling, and DMMME Chair Mitch-Irene Kate G. Oyales. Also present were DMMME faculty and staff, as well as SCPC employees.