Specifically regarding failure analysis. There is an enormous industrial field of research and investigation in failure analysis. And professional journals devoted thereto: "Engineering Failure Analysis" and ASM International's "Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention" are 2.
The big money isn't in vintage damascus barrel failures or even a blown-up K80 (the results of the analysis will never be made public); it is in pipeline blow-outs and airplanes falling from the sky. The metallurgical engineer at METL told me they can now ID the welder, at the specific yard in Houston, who welded the pipe that blew out.
And there are billions of $s tied in to things like this, which BTW was fan blade fatigue failure
http://www.wsj.com/articles/southwest-incident-linked-to-cracked-engine-blade-1473716012 
What I've been doing is extremely small time, entertaining and interesting to the folks at METL, and I believe has been of some value.
