Acknowledgements

First and foremost, we would like to thank the numerous insurance companies, loss adjusters, manufacturers, other experts and lawyers for providing all of the cases in this book. Oldham Batteries Ltd deserve special mention for their support of our work, including Dr Richard Acton, Technical Director at the time, and Bob Booth of the Technical Department. We would also like to extend our appreciation to all those fellow experts with whom we have collaborated and who have proved open to argument and discussion.

PRL would like to acknowledge work done by former research students, especially Drs Geoff Attenborough, Dave Anderton, Phil Hargreaves, Paul Hawkins, Kamal Weeraperuma, and Bob Ward, and the support of Sir Geoffrey Allen FRS in encouraging research with industry. The Consumer Research Labs and World Bank helped support the work on PVC pipes. We also thank EPSRC for supporting our post-graduate course in Forensic Engineering (T839) which aims to provide students with a basic foundation in the subject. The earlier course Design and Manufacture with Polymers (T838) received similar support, both being run in collaboration with the Polymer School at London Metropolitan University as part of an integrated graduate development scheme or IGDS. Students on the courses have participated actively in day schools, showing great enthusiasm for the subject. Our colleagues at London Met helped produce T838, including, Drs John Brydson, Mike O’Brien, Bob Dyson and Mark Alger. Professor Rod A Smith, FRAEng, Dr Colin Goodchild, Professor Roy Crawford FRAEng and Dr DRH Jones gave encouragement to the project. The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Open University supported numerous visits by PRL to the USA to read papers at the FAPSIG group of the Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE) based on case studies of polymer failure. He thanks Drs Meyer Ezrin and Donald Duvall, and Professors Jan Spoormaker and Alex Chudnovsky for their interest in his work. Thanks also go to Rebecca Dolbey, and Drs David Wright and Roger Brown of RAPRA Technology Ltd for interactive discussions. PRL would also like to thank staff at the Shrivenham campus of Cranfield University during his tenure on the Forensic Engineering and Science Masters course, especially Drs Mike Edwards, John Bellerby, Donald Peach and David Lane.

Much of the detailed research discussed would not have been possible without the help of our many colleagues, especially Drs Rod Barrett, G Weidmann, Sarah Hainsworth (Leicester University) and Jim Moffatt with technical assistance from Gordon Imlach (FTIR, DSC, SEM), Stan Hiller (optical microscopy), Richard Black (microscopy) and Naomi Williams (SEM), Charles Snelling and Peter Ledgard (machining), Richard Hearne and Ian Norman (lab superintendent). We have had stimulating discussions of the subject with Nancy Ashburn, Salih Gungor, Martin Rist Professors Jeff Johnson, Lyndon Edwards and Mike Fitzpatrick.

We would both like to thank our families for their support, especially Sue Gagg for proofreading and David Lewis for providing information on current coal mine practice. Dr Patrick Lewis has helped in several literature searches involving medical device failures, and Fiona Lewis in providing administrative support.