Description:

This Master Prompt focuses on engineering Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in which the observed problem is associated with physical deterioration, material damage, component malfunction, machine failure, process deviation or infrastructure degradation. It guides researchers from the first observation of damage through systematic inspection, materials and mechanical characterization, operational-history reconstruction, failure-mechanism identification, degradation-pathway analysis, fault propagation and final root-cause determination. The uploaded literature demonstrates the value of combining visual, metallurgical and mechanical evidence rather than relying on a single characterization method when reconstructing engineering failures.