In this post, NDT testing equipment makers will share their experience with distinct NDT Testing Techniques and uses. By reading this article, you can easily pick your choice of NDT method for your project.
There are certain kinds of evaluation done for engineering materials or structures without causing any damage to their properties. Such evaluations are completed with NDT methods. Professionals can inspect or check the materials or structures without affecting their surface texture, future usefulness and product integrity.
NDT has a broad spectrum, interdisciplinary field of NDT plays a crucial role in inspecting that structural systems and components and perform its function in most reliable way. Right practice of non-destructive testing methods allow locating and characterizing material conditions and flaws that might result in planes to crash, trains to derail, reactor failure, pipelines to burst, and other hidden troubling events.
The NDT techniques cannot be carried out by any person as it involves proper skill set and operator knowledge. Technicians can perform these methods on plastics, metals, ceramics, cermets, composites, and coatings to determine cracks, surface cavities, internal voids, and any other flaw that can be a reason behind premature failure.
Which Techniques are Applied by Experts?
There are total eight non-destructive testing methods that engineers apply to their projects. Every method has its unique function and limitation. Let’s learn about them in detail.
- Visual inspection – Visual inspection is effective method used by engineers to detect macroscopic flaws, such as poor welds. This method is suitable for determining flaws in composite structures and all types of piping. However, you cannot detect small flaws.
- Microscopy – This method is used to find small surface flaws, but you cannot use it for larger structures.
- Radiography – This method offers permanent reference for the objects’ internal soundness that is radio-graphed. This method is less popular due to hazards of handling radioactive materials.
- Dye penetration – This method is used for detecting surface flaws. Liquid dye penetration is inexpensive and convenient to perform for surface defect inspection. However, this technique is not useful for inspecting subsurface flaws.
- Ultrasonic
- Magnetic particle
- Eddy current
- Acoustic emission
All these techniques require special skill set and experience. NDT testing equipment makers hire qualified engineers that craft the tools and equipments used to perform NDT techniques.
If you have any knowledge about NDT techniques, do share with other readers here via comments.