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Secondary Damage

Secondary Thermal Damage

Visibly dramatic thermal damage at an LED location that is valuable precisely because it should not be mistaken for the initiating failure.

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Scale 23.5X
Observed feature Visible thermal damage at the LED location
Likely mechanism Secondary thermal-mechanical damage after the primary failure of capacitor C1
Secondary thermal damage at an LED location

Interpretation

Why this image matters

The report concluded that the LED module failed due to internal shorting of capacitor C1 and that the open LED was believed to be secondary damage caused by EOS of LED1 after that primary event.

This makes the image especially useful for one of the most important teaching points in the project: the most visible damage is not always the root cause.

As a gallery example, it works best when paired with a primary EOS site so users can see how initiating evidence and aftermath evidence can differ dramatically.

secondary-damage thermal-damage eos-aftermath primary-vs-secondary
Use this when

Best comparison value

  • Teaching the difference between initiating failure and aftermath damage
  • Comparing primary EOS evidence with secondary visible destruction
  • Discussing why failure chronology matters in interpretation
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