Announcing the 2025 Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention Editor’s Choice Awards

J Fail. Anal. and Preven. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-026-02470-1 EDITORIAL Announcing the 2025 Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention Editor’s Choice Awards Elvin Beach Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention Ó ASM International 2026 The editorial team at the Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention (JFAP) selects six articles from every volume of the journal for the Editor’s Choice Awards. One of the articles will be selected as the Best Paper from Volume 25 of JFAP. The six articles listed below were selected for the 2025 Editor’s Choice Awards (in order of publication date): Influence of Load Misalignment on T-bolts Failure in Wind Turbine Blades Guillermo Muñoz-Hernandez, Giovanni Vidal-Flores, Filiberto Ramon-Cipriano, Jose Guadalupe Rico-Espino, and Felipe Garcia-Ramirez J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 25(1), 253–269 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-025-02093-y Failure Analysis of a Mountain Bicycle Crank Arm Brett A. Miller, Justin Barnes, Phillip D. Swartzentruber, Michael Bayne, and Anthony Petters J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 25(3), 913–922 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-025-02177-9 Experimental Determination of Temperatures Achieved by Hot Particles Produced from Electrical Arcing Kevin Lewis, Jonathan Carlos Contreras, Ethan Ensminger, Jonathan Hodges, Tommy Halim, Benjamin Baumann, and Jeffery Marsh J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 25(3), 1181–1192 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-025-02168-w Failure Analysis of Austenitic Stainless Steel Weldments: The Role of Copper Contamination and Crack Propagation Mechanisms Shiva Bejugama, Sidhareddy Manigandan, Vemoori Raju, and Obulapathi Eggidi J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 25(3), 1408–1415 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-025-02218-3 E. Beach (&) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 1044 Fontana Laboratory, The Ohio State University, 140 West 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA e-mail: 123 J Fail. Anal. and Preven. Optimizations and Case Studies: Decapsulation of Hardened Epoxy SiC MOSFETs and Diodes via JIACO Microwave-Induced Plasma Etching Connor J. Sorrells, Kyle E. Nielsen, Bret A. Walters, Jiaqi Tang, and Mark W. McKinnon J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 25(5), 1976–1985 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-025-02266-9 Failure Investigation of Copper-To-Copper Bonding in Advanced 3D Packaging: From Sample Preparation to Structural Characterization Pawel Nowakowski, Richard Wei-Chih Li, Mary Ray, and Paul Fischione J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 25(5), 2008–2018 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-025-02201-y This year’s Editor’s Choice Award papers cover a range of materials (composites, metals, microelectronics) and a variety of techniques for analyzing and preventing failures. These articles illustrate the diversity of topics discussed in any given issue of JFAP. The first article examines how load misalignment of Tbolts in wind turbines directly influences the state of stress in bolts that are prone to suffer fatigue damage. The authors propose the calculation of a parameter to define permissible values in the design and prevent failure. This interesting read both analyzes the failure and suggests a quantitative value to help designers prevent future failures caused by bolt load misalignment. The second paper in the Editor’s Choice Award series is a case history examining a failed crank arm (connecting the pedal to the gears) from an off-road mountain bike. This paper contains a thorough fractographic analysis of the fracture surfaces. There is also excellent metallographic work examining the numerous cracks found in the aluminum alloy crank arm. Give this paper a read to find out what the failure mode was and why the authors believe this crank arm failed. The third manuscript in this series provides a fundamental understanding and quantitative analysis to determine the temperature of ejected, arc generated particles. This has practical implications for electrical infrastructure and furthers our understanding of this phenomenon, how to prevent or contain it, and how to use this knowledge to help prevent catastrophic events such as wildfires. The fourth article in this series examines copper-induced cracking in austenitic steel weldments. The authors discuss 123 multiple NDE techniques to help identify these cracks. There is some nice metallographic and microindentation hardness work characterizing copper contaminated weldments in this article as well. The fifth paper in the Editor’s Choice Series is a microelectronic device failure analysis technique. This paper discusses using a microwave-induced plasma for decapsulate silicon carbide MOSFETS and diodes. It is a challenge for microelectronic device failure analysis and a great way for anyone not working on electronic devices to learn about a new technology. The sixth and final paper in this series is also a microelectronic device failure analysis; however, this paper examines failure modes in direct copper-to-copper bonds. This paper examines the effects of the copper surfaces at the interface of these connections. The JFAP editorial and publication teams hope you find the selections described here as interesting as we did. These selected manuscripts will be made available as ‘‘Free Access’’ through the Editor’s Choice link on the JFAP website at https://www.springer.com/journal/11668/ updates/17308862, as well as through the journal’s page on Springer.com. Normally, there is a charge to the authors for free access, but for papers selected for this honor, this benefit is free. The team at JFAP hopes this access increases visibility and access for the outstanding work reported in each. The editorial team at JFAP wants to express our gratitude to all the authors who submitted their work to our journal and shared their research with our readers. It is equally important to acknowledge the efforts of our technical reviewers, all of whom volunteer their time to support the mission of the journal and maintain the high-quality standards. Last, but far from least, the editorial team would like to express our utmost appreciation to the team members at ASM International and Springer who are responsible for all the logistical and organizational tasks that go into publishing JFAP. Congratulations to the authors of the manuscripts selected for inclusion in the Editor’s Choice collection, and to all the authors whose work appeared in JFAP in 2025. We hope to have the opportunity to work with you again in the future, and to continue to improve and grow JFAP in 2026. 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