Failure Analysis of Hydraulic Fitting Brazed Connections

Progressive fracture occurred in a number of brazed joints on hydraulic fittings during service, resulting in a series of fires. Post-failure analysis revealed that the brazed connections that failed were of poor quality and inconsistent with properly manufactured connections of this type. The brazed connections on used, exemplar fittings removed from identical service were also examined and were found to possess similar manufacturing deficiencies. In the absence of these manufacturing deficiencies, the observed fracture modes of the fittings would not have occurred.