Ewelina Engel
Metallurgist · Materials & Process Engineering
Warsaw, Poland
Metallurgist specializing in failure analysis and microstructure characterization of aerospace hot section components. Leads root cause investigations for in-service HPT blade and disk distress events, using SEM, EDS, and EBSD to identify failure mechanisms. Strong background in nickel superalloy phase transformations, oxidation, and hot corrosion behavior relevant to aero engine environments.
Expertise
- failure analysis of hot section components
- superalloy microstructure characterization
- SEM/EDS/EBSD analysis
- oxidation and hot corrosion assessment
- root cause investigation for in-service distress
Technologies
Work History
2025-01
EBSD texture analysis for EBM-printed IN718 nozzle guide vane — characterized grain orientation distribution, grain boundary character, and columnar grain texture alignment with the build direction.
Challenge: EBSD scan of a large-area sample (20mm x 30mm) at 0.5µm step size required 14 hours of scan time — data volume was 4GB. Standard EBSD analysis software (OIM) struggled to process the dataset in reasonable time. Switched to Python-based EBSD analysis (ORIX library) for batch processing.
Learned: Large-area EBSD datasets require dedicated big-data EBSD processing tools. Commercial EBSD software is optimized for small datasets — for production-scale texture characterization studies, Python-based open-source tools (ORIX, MTEX) are more scalable and allow custom analysis scripts.
2024-03
Hot corrosion assessment for turbine vane alloy exposed to high-sulfur fuel contaminants — characterized Type II hot corrosion attack depth and Na2SO4 deposit composition on 6 service-returned vanes.
Challenge: Distinguishing Type I (>900°C) from Type II (<900°C) hot corrosion from microstructural evidence alone was ambiguous in 2 of the 6 vanes. Used Thermo-Calc TCNI9 to model the stability of the observed sulfate phases at different temperatures, providing thermodynamic evidence for the corrosion type.
Learned: Thermodynamic calculations (Thermo-Calc) are a powerful complement to SEM/EDS for distinguishing hot corrosion types when temperature history is unknown. Phase stability maps for the Na-S-O system at different temperatures allow temperature range constraints based on the observed phase assemblage.
2023-09
Gamma-prime precipitate sizing study for two heats of IN718 with different heat treatment cycles — measured average γ' size and distribution by SEM image analysis, correlated with tensile and creep properties.
Challenge: Manual γ' size measurement from SEM images was inconsistent between operators and extremely time-consuming (4 hours per sample). Implemented a Python image segmentation pipeline using skimage for automated precipitate sizing — reduced measurement time to 15 minutes per sample with better reproducibility.
Learned: SEM image analysis for precipitate sizing is a natural target for automation. Once a segmentation algorithm is validated against manual measurements on a reference set, automated sizing is more reproducible and 10-15x faster — invest in the automation up front rather than relying on manual measurement for large sample sets.
2023-02
Failure analysis of HPT stage 1 blade returned from service with thermal fatigue cracking at the platform-to-airfoil junction. SEM/EDS fractographic analysis and microstructure characterization to determine root cause.
Challenge: The crack initiation site showed mixed oxidation and fatigue striations — distinguishing primary oxidation-induced cracking from fatigue-with-secondary-oxidation required detailed fractography at 5kV (low voltage SEM for better surface contrast) rather than standard 20kV imaging.
Learned: Hot section failure analysis requires careful fractography at multiple accelerating voltages. Low-voltage SEM (2-5kV) preserves more surface detail on oxidized fracture surfaces, revealing initiation mechanism. High-voltage imaging cleans the oxide contrast and can mislead the root cause conclusion.