Sean Berg

Dr. Berg has nearly 10 years of experience as an engineer in a variety of industries including automotive, oil & gas, refineries and chemical processing, consumer products, medical devices, power generation, batteries and energy storage. He has expertise in multiple engineering disciplines including metallurgical and materials engineering, and mechanical engineering, and has taught university coursework in these areas of engineering. He has expertise in evaluating metallurgical damage, corrosion, and conducting failure analysis. He also has extensive experience assessing the structural and mechanical integrity of fixed and rotating pressure containing equipment, and has investigated numerous field failures. Dr. Berg has subject matter expertise in batteries and electrochemical energy storage systems, including failure modes leading to thermal runaway that can cause explosions and fires. His current work involves forensic investigations of building mechanical systems, vehicle mechanical systems, engines, appliances, plumbing systems, and failure analysis of materials.

           Area of Expertise:

• Failure analysis of materials (visual examination, NDE, sample selection, sectioning, chemical and compositional analysis, fractography, metallography)
• Materials characterization (optical microscopy, SEM, EDS, OES, XRD, EBSD, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy)
• Corrosion and metallurgical damage characterization
• Analysis of polymers
• Mechanical testing
• Mechanical integrity of pressure containing systems (pressure vessels, piping, tanks, compressors, pumps, turbines)
• Mechanical systems failure
• Computational fluid dynamics modeling and stress analysis
• Mechanical fatigue, vibration, and fracture mechanics
• Batteries and electrochemical energy storage
• Code and standard analysis and interpretation