Surface Physics Analysis

Will this joint, coating or barrier survive its duty cycle?

Give Surphysis the layer stack, the duty cycle and your own characterisation files. It returns the fracture margin, the breakthrough time and the survival probability, with the one measurement that would change the answer.

Free for academic labs. No AI at runtime: every number comes from a numbered physics rule you can audit.

Live case

Sapphire to Inconel 718, graded interlayer

1 200 K excursion, 5 laser pulses

  1. Sapphirec-plane
  2. MoO2 anchorcritical interface50 nm
  3. Graded interlayer5 steps, 3.2 µm
  4. Cr barrier150 nm
  5. Inconel 718laser built
A temperature front crosses the stack; the graded steps hold, the barrier does notStep stress0.63 GPaR05

Cr barrier on X65 pipeline steel

7 MPa H2, 50 °C, 20 a

  1. Cr barriercritical interface150 nm
  2. X65 pipeline steelbulk
Hydrogen enters along the grain boundaries of the barrier filmBreakthrough3.7 aR13

7YSZ thermal barrier on CMSX-4

1100 °C, 1 500 cycles

  1. 7YSZ top coat180 µm, columnar
  2. Thermally grown oxidecritical interface4.2 µm
  3. NiCoCrAlY bond coat120 µm
  4. CMSX-4 substratesingle crystal
A crack advances along the thermally grown oxide until the coat lets goSpallationcycle 1 340mock

Die attach on a copper substrate

−40 to 150 °C, 1 000 cycles

  1. Silicon die0.3 mm
  2. Attach layercritical interface40 µm
  3. Copper substratebulk
Thermal cycling drives a crack along the attach layerFracture marginG / Gc 0.41mock

Industries

Six sectors. One question about the interface.

Each sector opens on a real service condition from the duty cycle library, so a case starts from the environment the part actually sees, not a blank form.

Hydrogen electrolyser stack in a plant

Hydrogen and ammonia

Pipelines, storage, crackers and electrolysers

Temperature
50 °C
Pressure
7 MPa
Duration
20 a hold
Environment
H2
ASME B31.12
Sour gas wellhead valves

Oil and gas

Sour service, downhole tools, LNG cryogenic cycling

Temperature
120 °C
Pressure
35 MPa
Duration
10 a hold
Environment
H2S 10 kPa partial pressure, brine
ISO 15156-2
Gas turbine hot section open for inspection

Power

Gas turbine hot sections, nuclear instrumentation

Temperature
27 to 1100 °C
Pressure
2 MPa
Duration
1 500 cycles
Environment
combustion gas
in-house cycle
Aero engine on a test stand

Aerospace

Engine coatings, sensor windows, brazed assemblies

Temperature
27 to 900 °C
Pressure
0.8 MPa
Duration
3 000 cycles
Environment
combustion gas
in-house cycle
Metal 3D printer build chamber

Additive manufacturing

Multi-material builds, ceramic on metal, repair

Temperature
627 to 1220 °C
Pressure
ambient
Duration
5 cycles
Environment
argon, 100 ppm O2
ISO/ASTM 52904
Silicon wafer with packaged chips

Electronics

Die attach, packaging, thin-film sensors

Temperature
-40 to 150 °C
Pressure
ambient
Duration
1 000 cycles
Environment
air
JESD22-A104

Nineteen services, three doors

Design it, analyse what you built, qualify it for service

Each service is a chain of numbered rules. 10 are live today; the rest are in validation and open a request, never a dead end.

How it works

Four steps, one audit trail

  1. 01

    Describe the stack

    Choose materials from the passport library or type them in. Set the duty cycle: temperature history, pressure, environment, cycles.

  2. 02

    Attach what you measured

    XRD as .xy or .xrdml, EBSD as .ctf or .ang, SEM as .tif with a scale bar, permeation as .csv. Each file tightens a prior.

  3. 03

    Watch the engine reason

    Stress, minimax grading, fracture, grain-boundary kinetics and Sobol sensitivity run as numbered rules. Every step is logged with its rule reference.

  4. 04

    Take the verdict to the bench

    Fracture margin, breakthrough time, survival probability, a ranked measure-next list, and the recipe as editable code with an acceptance test plan.

What a verdict reads like

One page. The weakest interface, its life, and what to measure next.

No score out of ten. A named interface, a named mechanism, a number with its band, and the assumption that most controls it. Written for the engineer who has to sign.

Verdict · case C-0412engine 0.1 · mock data

Sapphire to Inconel 718, graded interlayer, LPBF

Conditional pass

Weakest interface
Chromium barrier, consumed by grain-boundary diffusion of Ni
1.0 pulses
Survival over 5 pulses
Monte Carlo, 4 000 draws
P = 0.01
Interlayer step stress
Minimax grading, 5 steps
0.63 GPa · pass
Fracture margin
Edge delamination, Al2O3 to step 1
G / Gc 0.027 · pass
Measure nextD0_gb by permeation or diffusion couple. Accepted: .csv t and J. Alternative: coarsen the barrier grains by a pre-build anneal and re-run.

The engine

Physics you can audit. No AI at runtime.

Twenty-five numbered rules cover thermo-elastic mismatch, minimax graded interlayers, grain-boundary diffusion, interface fracture mechanics and global sensitivity. Each rule cites its equation and its sources; each run prints the numbers it used.

  • Continuum mechanics and fractureBiaxial mismatch stress, minimax step rule, Hutchinson and Suo energy release rates, mode-mixity toughness
  • Microstructure and kineticsScherrer and Williamson-Hall grain size, Hart effective diffusivity, Harrison regimes, barrier breakthrough
  • Uncertainty that ranks the next measurementMonte Carlo over stated error bars, Saltelli Sobol indices, measure-next by variance reduction per cost
The twenty-five rules in the six stages of a run, wired by the dependencies declared in the rule registry, lighting in the order they fired in case C-0412DataMismatchCriterionKineticsFractureVerdictR00R10R11R01R02R03R04R05R06R07R08R09R24R12R13R14R15R16R17R18R22R19R20R21R23

R00 · preferred value selection

Stages left to right; every line is a dependency declared in the rule registry.

41property rowseach with its source, method, form and temperature window, from 7 references
25rulesR00 to R24, every one unit-tested against a worked case
7duty cyclesreal service conditions, so a case starts from the environment the part sees

Why Surphysis

The tools you own stop at properties or at stress. The verdict lives in between.

Surphysis runs on top of the simulation and database tools you already have. It replaces the six-week consultancy report, not your stack.

CapabilityFE packagesCALPHAD toolsMaterials databasesConsultancy reportSurphysis
The interface is the unit of analysisIts own passport, toughness data and life verdict
Your measurement files move the answerXRD, EBSD, SEM, permeation tighten the priors
Barrier life from grain-boundary kineticsBreakthrough time, not thickness alone
Ranked measure-next listWhich instrument, which sample, how much it tightens the verdict
Public scorecard of blind predictionsHit and miss record against published failures
Answer in minutes, in the browserData stays on your machine until you export

built in possible with expert work not offered

Scored in public

Every prediction is timestamped before the published outcome is read, and misses stay on the board with the rule that caused them. No incumbent publishes a record like this.

0 of 40 logged
TBC spallation and hydrogen barrier breakthrough, opens 2026-10

Your data stays yours

Uploads are parsed in your browser. Nothing leaves your machine until you export a report. No model is trained on your files, because there is no model.

Runs in the browser. No account needed to try a case.

Built from the literature

Every property carries its source, method, form and temperature window. Disputed values stay disputed and widen the band rather than pick a side.

Every value in a verdict traces to a citation you can open.

Request a demo session

Bring one interface you worry about. We run it live.

Forty minutes on a call. You describe the stack and the duty cycle, we run the case in front of you and hand you the verdict report afterwards. Academic labs get an account on the same call.

  1. BeforeSend the layer stack and the duty cycle, or bring them to the call. Characterisation files are welcome and not required.
  2. On the callWe build the case in front of you and run it. You see every rule fire, with the numbers it used and the assumptions it made.
  3. AfterwardsThe verdict report, the assumptions table and the ranked measure-next list, by email the same day. Yours to circulate.
We reply within two working days. No mailing list.