NDT

Nondestructive testing (NDT), also called nondestructive examination (NDE) and nondestructive inspection (NDI), is testing that does not destroy the test object. NDE is vital for constructing and maintaining all types of components and structures. To detect different defects such as cracking and corrosion, there are different methods of testing available, such as X-ray (where cracks show up on the film) and ultrasound (where cracks show up as an echo blip on the screen). This article is aimed mainly at industrial NDT, but many of the methods described here can be used to test the human body. In fact methods from the medical field have often been adapted for industrial use, as was the case with Phased array ultrasonics and Computed radiography.

While destructive testing usually provides a more reliable assessment of the state of the test object, destruction of the test object usually makes this type of test more costly to the test object's owner than nondestructive testing. Destructive testing is also inappropriate in many circumstances, such as forensic investigation. That there is a tradeoff between the cost of the test and its reliability favors a strategy in which most test objects are inspected nondestructively; destructive testing is performed on a sampling of test objects that is drawn randomly for the purpose of characterizing the testing reliability of the nondestructive test.

Contents

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* 1 The need for NDT

* 2 Notable events in early industrial NDT

* 3 Applications

* 4 Methods and techniques

* 5 Terminology

* 6 Reliability and statistics

* 7 Further reading

o 7.1 Books

o 7.2 Magazines

o 7.3 External links

o 7.4 NDT journals

o 7.5 NDT research institutes

* 8 See also

[edit] The need for NDT

It is very difficult to weld or mold a solid object that has the risk of breaking in service, so testing at manufacture and during use is often essential. During the process of casting a metal object, for example, the metal may shrink as it cools, and crack or introduce voids inside the structure. Even the best welders (and welding machines) do not make 100% perfect welds. Some typical weld defects that need to be found and repaired are lack of fusion of the weld to the metal and porous bubbles inside the weld, both of which could cause a structure to break or a pipeline to rupture.

During their service lives, many industrial components need regular non-destructive tests to detect damage that may be difficult or expensive to find by everyday methods. For example:

* aircraft skins need regular checking to detect cracks;

* underground pipelines are subject to corrosion and stress corrosion cracking;

* pipes in industrial plants may be subject to erosion and corrosion from the products they carry;

* concrete structures may be weakened if the inner reinforcing steel is corroded;

* pressure vessels may develop cracks in welds;

* the wire ropes in suspension bridges are subject to weather, vibration, and high loads, so testing for broken wires and other damage is important.

Over the past centuries, swordsmiths, blacksmiths, and bell-makers would listen to the ring of the objects they were creating to get an indication of the soundness of the material. The wheel-tapper would test the wheels of locomotives for the presence of cracks, often caused by fatigue — a function that is now carried out by instrumentation and referred to as the acoustic impact technique.

[edit] Notable events in early industrial NDT

* 1854 Hartford, Connecticut: a boiler at the Fales and Gray Car works explodes, killing 21 people and seriously injuring 50. Within a decade, the State of Connecticut passes a law requiring annual inspection (in this case visual) of boilers.

* 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers what are now known as X-rays. In his first paper he discusses the possibility of flaw detection.

* 1880 - 1920 The "Oil and Whiting" method of crack detection is used in the railroad industry to find cracks in heavy steel parts. (A part is soaked in thinned oil, then painted with a white coating that dries to a powder. Oil seeping out from cracks turns the white powder brown, allowing the cracks to be detected.) This was the precursor to modern liquid penetrant tests.

* 1920 Dr. H. H. Lester begins development of industrial radiography for metals. 1924 — Lester uses radiography to examine castings to be installed in a Boston Edison Company steam pressure power plant [1].

* 1926 The first electromagnetic eddy current instrument is available to measure material thicknesses.

* 1927 - 1928 Magnetic induction system to detect flaws in railroad track developed by Dr. Elmer Sperry and H.C. Drake.

* 1929 Magnetic particle methods and equipment pioneered (A.V. DeForest and F.B. Doane.)

* 1930s Robert F. Mehl demonstrates radiographic imaging using gamma radiation from Radium, which can examine thicker components than the low-energy X-ray machines available at the time.

* 1935 - 1940 Liquid penetrant tests developed (Betz, Doane, and DeForest)

* 1935 - 1940s Eddy current instruments developed (H.C. Knerr, C. Farrow, Theo Zuschlag, and Fr. F. Foerster).

* 1940 - 1944 Ultrasonic test method developed in USA by Dr. Floyd Firestone.

* 1950 J. Kaiser introduces acoustic emission as an NDT method.

(Source: Hellier, 2001) Note the number of advancements made during the WWII era, a time when industrial quality control was growing in importance.