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Industrial Case Studies on NDT Techniques

• Prepared By :
Kunjan Patel (19MMD009)
Kush Shrivastava (19MMD010)
Rikkin Acharya (19MMD011)

• Guided By :
Dr. Pavan Kumar G.
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What is NDT ?

• Non-destructive testing (NDT) is a wide group of analysis

techniques used in science and technology industry to
evaluate the properties of a material, component or system
without causing damage.

Why and When NDT are used ?

• Test piece too precious to be destroyed

• Test piece to be reuse after inspection
• Flaw Detection and Evaluation
• Leak Detection
• Location Determination
• Dimensional Measurements
• Structure and Microstructure Characterization
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How NDT are Classified ?

Detection of surface flaws

• Visual Inspection
• Magnetic Particle Inspection
• Fluorescent Dye Penetrant Inspection

Detection of internal flaws

• X-Radiography Inspection
• Ultrasonic Testing
• Eddy current Testing

Detection through Surface Temperatures

• Thermal Methods
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Ultrasonic Testing
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What is Ultrasonic Testing (UT) ?

• Here high-frequency sound waves
are transmitted into a material to
detect imperfections or to locate
changes in material properties.
The most commonly used
ultrasonic testing technique is
pulse echo, whereby sound is
introduced into a test object and
reflections (echoes) from internal
imperfections or the part's
geometrical surfaces are returned
to a receiver. The time interval
between the transmission and
reception of pulses give clues to
the internal structure of the
material.
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Case Study:1
Ultrasonic Testing of AGR Fuel Cladding
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Abstract

• AGR fuel pins are stainless steel cylindrical ribbed pipes of inner
diameter of the rod being about 15mm and wall thickness of about
300μm.
• Spent AGR fuel pins are stored in a water pond and thus may be
prone to corrosion and stress-corrosion cracking under adverse
conditions.
• An ultrasonic immersion transducer with central frequency of
25MHz was used to measure wall thickness of the AGR fuel
cladding.
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Introduction
• AGR fuel pins are stainless steel cylindrical ribbed pipes of inner diameter
of the rod being about 15 mm and wall thickness of about 300 μm. Spent
AGR fuel pins are stored in a water pond and thus may be prone to
corrosion and stress-corrosion cracking under adverse conditions. An
ultrasonic immersion transducer with central frequency of 25 MHz was
used to measure wall thickness of the AGR fuel cladding.
• The Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) is a type of nuclear reactor which
uses graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant.
AGR requires stainless steel fuel cladding to withstand the high
temperature.

• AGR fuel pins are stainless steel cylindrical ribbed pipes of about 1000 mm
length, average diameter of the pin is about 15 mm, wall thickness is
about 300 μm, rib height is about 400 μm and rib pitch is 2.75 mm. The
material of AGR fuel cladding is austenitic stainless steel (SS).
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• This fuel cladding are stored in water pond so it is very much require
to determine the corrosion and other defect.

• This can be done by the ultrasonic testing. Here, this ultrasonic test is
done by the robotic arm as we can see in the picture.
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Experimental Setup

• Pulser/Receiver: JSR PR35, bandwidth 30 MHz.

• Data acquisition: Digital Oscilloscope Tektronix DPO4054B (analog
bandwidth 500 MHz, maximum sampling rate2.5 GS/s).
• Transducer: Olympus Immersion Transducer VIDEOSCAN series, central
frequency 25 MHz ( fL 18.51 MHz, fH 30.20 MHz, 0.25jj Element Diameter,
Standard Case Style, Straight UHF Connector, Spherical Focus of 0.5 inch.
• 3D CNC scanner Colinbus PB3D for the flat sample and an industrial robotic
arm KUKA KR 5 arc HW for the AGR fuel cladding. Robot positional data
were acquired via Robot Sensor Interface.
• Desktop PC.
• Immersion tank.
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Results
• This paper has presented the results of an experimental feasibility study of
robotic ultrasonic measurement of the cladding wall thickness of fuel pins
of Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) for various typologies of defects.
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Conclusions
• It can be used for detecting the corrosion for fuel cladding

• A full system should be tested on active sample in order to

understand the effect of radiation.
• Robotic arm accuracy is also a challenge for this type of
testing
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Case Study:2
Long Range Ultrasonic Test of inaccessible pipe-
rack in petrochemical plant
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Introduction
• Due to aging of petrochemical plant and expectation of corrosion
happening in their pipework, long range ultrasonic technology
developed for detecting metal loss.
• It is pulse echo system aimed at testing large volumes of material
from a single test point. It is initial application was for detecting
corrosion under insulation in petrochemical plant
• This long range ultrasonic test is evaluation of NDT method i.e
conventional ultrasonic test.

• It is pulse echo system aimed at testing large volumes of material

from a single test point. This technique involves transmitting
ultrasonic Lamb waves along the pipe length. By using this method
approximately 100 meter of pipe can be inspected from a single
location in the best condition.
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Principle of Inspection and Operation

• Guided wave employs low frequency ultrasonic waves, operating just
above audible frequencies, propagated from a ring of transducers which is
fixed around the pipe. At these frequencies a liquid couplant between the
transducers and the surface is not necessary, the coupling will achieve by
applying mechanical or pneumatic pressure to the back of the transducers.

A typical weld is symmetric and localized in the axial A typical corrosion spot is non-symmetric and is
direction looks like a black spike. identified by the presence of a red signal.
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NIOC Petrochemical Plant Examination

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Results
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Distance from Datum Indication Type Comments

-18.83 Weld
-16.326 Cat 1. Minor Indication

-13.154 Cat 1. Minor Indication

-6.262 Weld
0.043 Pipe Support Cat 2 Indications at Pipe
Support

6.754 Weld
8.622 Cat 1. Minor Indication

13.31 T-Piece
15.345 Weld
17.438 Cat 1. Minor Indication

19.087 Cat 1. Minor Indication

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Conclusions
• By this long range ultrasonic test we can cover 100% area & the
area which is not accessible.
• It can also cover the difficult raea like turning and crossing.

• Here noted part is that this long range ultrasonic test can be
harmful to the operator by the long period of time.
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Acoustic Emission Testing

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What is Acoustic Emission Testing (AET) ?

• Acoustic emission is the
method used to investigate the
behaviour of defects under
stress by mechanical, pressure
or thermal means which
conditions crack growth & local
yielding & results in sudden
release in energy where a part
is converted into elastic waves
and are detected by
piezoelectric transducers
which can give positional
information about the emitting
defect.
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Case Study:1
Detection of Railway Axle Bearing Defects using
Acoustic Emission Testing
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Abstract
• Railway wheelsets consist of three main components; the wheel, axle and
axle bearing. Faults can develop on any of the aforementioned
components, but the most common are related to wheel and axle bearing
damages.

• The continuous increase in train operating speeds means that failure of an

axle bearing can lead to very serious derailments.

• This paper discusses the results of onboard acoustic emission

measurements carried out with artificially damaged axle bearings. Acoustic
emission signal envelope analysis has been applied as a means of effective
tool to detect and evaluate the damage in the bearings.
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• In this case study Lab Tests were carried out on Healthy and Defective
Bearings as well as actual Railway Axle Bearing.

• Here, hydraulic jack was used to simulate the radial load.

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Healthy axle Bearing Test

Defective axle bearing Test

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Onboard Mounting of AE Sensors on actual railway

axle bearing
• Onboard Mounting are more likely to detect an axle bearing fault, This is
due to the fact that the sensors are closer to the axle bearing and hence
to the source of the arising signal.
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Onboard AE measurement on bearing with minor defect

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Conclusions

• A number of laboratory and field tests were carried out to establish a

simple and effective approach in detecting faulty axle bearings using AE.

• The set of the laboratory tests carried out on the customized test rig
developed at the University of Birmingham show effectively that the AE
technique can be used.

• The same has been proven to be possible to achieve under field

operational conditions as shown in the results obtained from the tests
carried out at the Long Marston test track.
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Case Study:2
Acoustic Emission Testing in Low-Speed Heavy-
Duty Gears
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Introduction
• A gear system is a power and motion transmission device that is applied
most extensively in various kinds of industrial equipment.

• Its operational state directly affects the function of the whole equipment.
Faults and failures of gears can cause great damage to the whole
production. Therefore, the diagnosis of gear faults is of significant
importance.

• The background noise in the fault signals of low-speed heavy-duty gears

is complicated and of low energy, so conventional vibration testing
methods are not effective. The acoustic emission is the compared with
vibration signals.
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Analysis
• From the perspective of mechanism analysis In the internal check
tooth-face abrasion and peel-off was detected on the gear wheel of the
epicyclic gearbox
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• The vibration sensors mounted on identical sites shows the vibration

signals in the time-domain and the frequency-domain, no significant
characteristics. The method processing acoustic emission signals were
also used to analyse the vibration signals. Therefore, the acoustic
emission testing diagnosis was more effective than the vibration testing
diagnosis in certain aspects.
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Spectrum of vibration signal after redundant second

generation wavelet denoising
• The redundant second generation wavelet transform includes two
processes: decomposition and reconstruction. The decomposition
includes two parts: prediction and renovation.
• The reconstruction includes the reconstruction recovery and the
renovation recovery
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Conclusions

• The acoustic emission testing diagnosis could be applied to the fault

diagnosis of on-spot low-speed heavy-duty gears and was a crucial
supplement to the vibration testing diagnosis.

• The length of the approximation signals and detail signals obtained after
the decomposition of redundant second generation wavelet was the same
as that of original ones.
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Magnetic Particle Inspection

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What is Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI) ?

• A nondestructive testing
method uses magnetic
fields and small magnetic
particles, such as iron
filings to detect flaws in
components. The only
requirement from an Magnet Testing Bench and Yoke
inspect ability is that the
component being
inspected must be made of
a ferromagnetic material
such as iron, nickel,
cobalt, or some of their
alloys.
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Case Study:1
The Magnetic Particle Inspection Examination of
Aircraft Propeller Mounting Bolts
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Introduction
• The structural integrity of aircraft
component is very important for
airworthiness, safety and performance
of aircraft.
• In this case study, non-destructive
inspection of the propeller mounting
bolts, which connects the propeller to
aircraft engine, was investigated by
use of magnetic particle testing • A propeller is one of the most highly
method. stressed components on an aircraft.
• In rapidly rotating, reciprocating,
vibrating, highly stressed aircraft
parts, such as propeller components
small defects often lead to excessive
stress and develop to the point that
they cause complete failure of the
part and affects safety and
structural integrity of aircraft.
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Inspection
• The first step in a magnetic particle
inspection is to surface preparation
of part where the surface of part
being inspected must be free of
grease, oil and other moisture.
• Now, fluorescent magnetic particles
suspended in a liquid applied over
the mounting bolts by spraying &
Magnetization of bolt is carried out.

• After magnetization, bolts were

examined in a dark environment
under black light (UV) to reveal
local magnetic flux leakage
fields. Because, the fluorescent
magnetic particles has better
visibility for indications of
defects in a dark environment
under black light (UV).
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Results
• Figure shows the photos which were taken while examination. As it can be
seen in these photos, there were some sharp indications which were
glowing regions on the bolts. These indications were determined as cracks
and some corrosion products.

• MPI has proven reliable for being fast and relatively easy NDI
method to apply. These characteristics make MPI one of the most
widely utilized non-destructive testing methods for detecting
surface and near surface discontinuities of ferromagnetic materials.
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Case Study:2
Magnetic Particle Inspection on train components
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Introduction

• Magnetic particle inspection plays an important role in the railway

component production as well as in the maintenance workshops of
railway companies.
• After overhaul and before re-assembly, the train axles have to be
inspected for surface cracks. Detection of longitudinal defects
(defects in axial direction) is executed by a current flow
transmitted through the axle. Testing for transversal defects
(defects in encircling direction) is done with coil magnetization,
moving a motor driven coil along the axle.
• This presentation will include further examples of test solutions for
railway components as complete train wheel sets (axle and wheels
tested in an assembled state), laminated leaf springs, large railway
springs, pushrods for steam locomotives etc.
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Application of MPI on various Train Components

• Portable MPI with DEUTROPULS Hand

Yoke for weld seam testing on
components of the Wuppertal
Suspension Train

• Magnetization of a railway axle

shaft with a motorized moving
coil.
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Application of MPI on various Train Components

• Spring magnetization with 2 phase

shifted AC currents (direct current
flow through the spring and 2nd
current flow through central cupper
bar). Left hand of the test coil is the
reconnection mechanism visible,
which allows to switch from 2 current
magnetization for springs to standard
current & magnetic field
magnetization
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Results
• The Meiningen Steam Lokomotive works, which is nowadays the last
locomotive works for maintenance, repair and overhaul in Western Europe.
They use a KARL DEUTSCH machine with moving coil and integrated
spraying ring to test a big variety of components of steam locomotives.

• This machine can test Biggest components up to 4.2m length.

For example: Driving Rods

• In Result, successfully Testing for following components were carried out:

I. Railway axles
II. Testing of complete wheelsets
III. Testing weld seams on stabilizer bars
IV. Testing of railway wheels and steel tyres in the same machine
V. Testing driving rods of steam locomotives.
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Liquid Penetrant Inspection

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What is Liquid Penetrant Inspection (LPI) ?

• The technique is based on the
ability of a liquid to be drawn
into a "clean" surface breaking
flaw by capillary action.
Popularity of LPI is due to its
relative ease of use and its
flexibility. LPI can be used to
inspect almost any material
provided that its surface is not
extremely rough or porous.
Materials that are commonly
inspected include metals
(aluminum, copper, steel,
titanium, etc.), glass, many
ceramic materials, rubber, and
plastics.
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Case Study:1
Dye Penetrant Testing of Welded Joints Made of
Nickel and its Alloys
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Introduction
• Welding processes can be accompanied by the formation of welding
imperfections compromising the strength of welded joints. The most
important imperfections in terms of welded structures are cracks.

• The objective of the investigation was to determine how the width of a

crack and the roughness of its surface affect the time of development in
welded joints made of nickel and its alloys
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Inspection
• Before the tests and measurements,
the specimens were thoroughly
cleaned, i.e. post-processing re-
mains were removed and the sur-
face to be tested was degreased in
an ultrasonic washer using extrac-
tion naphtha and cleaning solvent.
After washing, the specimens were
dried at a temperature of approx-
imately 20°C, using a stream of
compressed air. As expected, the butt
joints developed cracks.
• The width of 11 measured cracks was
re- strained within the range of
4÷1228 μm.
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Inspection Contd & Profile Measurement

• Before breaking, the • The below equipment
crack areas (in order to made two measurements,
measure the roughness i.e. the surface profile
profile of crack surfaces) and the roughness profile
were subjected to dye , the graph shows
penetrant tests. The visualisation of the
penetrant tests of the stereometric structure of
cracks involved the use of the surface being
a set of testing aerosols measured
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Results
• The analysis of the test results led to the formulation of the following
conclusions:
I. The time of penetration significantly affected times of development
and sizes of indications and, therefore should be extended to 120
minutes.
II. In most cases, the single-time application of a penetrant resulted in a
shorter development time and smaller-sized indications in
comparison with situations when a penetrant was applied several
times.
III. An increase in the roughness of crack surface was accompanied by an
increase in the time of development, which could probably be
attributed to the greater spread of the surface and, as a result, the
greater volume of penetrant located in a given discontinuity.
IV. An increase in the width of a crack was accompanied by an increase
in the time of development; this was because of the greater volume
of penetrant in a given crack.
V. It is recommended that in penetrant tests of nickel and its alloys the
time of development be extended to approximately 200 minutes. In
most cases, such a time is sufficient for detecting unacceptable
welding imperfections.
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Case Study:2
Dye Penetrant Inspection Technique of Turbine
Rotating Component
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Introduction
• Reliable performance of mechanical component or structure depends on
pre-service quality of the component and in-service degradation of
component under operating conditions.
• Critical gas turbine rotating component, such as turbine blades,
compressor disks, spacers and cooling fan blades are subjected to cyclic
stresses during engine start-up, operation and shut-down. The lifetime of
these components are usually established on the basis of probabilistic
crack initiation criterion for a known fracture-critical location. Therefore,
periodic inspections are carried out to detect the probable cracks and
prevent suddenly fractures.

Testing Procedure
• Visual inspections were made on the generator parts especially on the fan
blades and the probable effect of accidents on them were studied and a
standard Dye Penetrant procedure was followed. Three kinds of blades
were found in the turbine casing after the inspection: fractured blades,
cracked blades and un-cracked blades.
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Pre cleaning, Penetrant application & Developer

application

• The test surface is cleaned to remove dirt, oil, grease, paint or any loose
scale that could either keep penetrant out of defects, or cause irrelevant
or false indications.

• The end goal of this step is to obtain a clean surface where any defect
present are open to the surface dry and free of contamination.
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Pre cleaning, Penetrant application &

Developer application Contd
• The dye is now applied to
the surface of the item
being tested. The
penetrant is then allowed
a dwell time between 15 –
20 minutes to seep into
flaws.
• After excess penetrant
have been removed from
the surface, the developer
is applied. This is a white
powder suspended in an
evaporative solvent which
has the ability to reverse a
capillary action.
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Results
• The various parts of the steam turbine evaluated were compressor and
generator rotor, turbine blades, the diffuser, the exhaust hoods, the
compressor casings, the generator bearings and retaining rings. The dye
penetrant testing basically revealed the cracked, fractured and sound
parts of the steam turbine blades which did not completely fracture during
the accident.
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Thermal Methods
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What are Thermal Methods ?

• Thermal NDT methods involve the
measurement or mapping of surface
temperatures as heat flows to, from
and/or through an object. The
simplest thermal measurements
involve making point measurements
with a thermocouple. This type of
measurement might be useful in
locating hot spots, such as a bearing
that is wearing out and starting to
heat up due to an increase in
friction. The basic premise of
thermographic NDT is that the flow
of heat from the surface of a solid is
affected by internal flaws such as
voids or inclusions.
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Radiography Methods
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What are Radiography Methods ?

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What are Radiography Methods ?

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What are Radiography Methods ?

• Radiographic Testing is a Non-
destructive testing method that
examines the volume of a
specimen. Radiography uses X-rays
and γ-rays to produce a radiograph
of a specimen to ensure optimum
quality in your operation.
RT usually is suitable for testing
welded joints. Although this is a
slow and expensive technique, it is
a dependable way to detect
porosity, inclusions, cracks, and
voids in weld interiors. X-rays are
produced by an X-ray tube, and γ-
rays are produced by a
radioactive isotope.
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