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Fabrication
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A wide range of methods are used
to join materials, and Non-destructive testing plays
a vital part in assuring the integrity of critical
joints.
Weld Inspection
Inspection of Steel welds is one of the primary
applications for many NDT techniques, in particular:
Ultrasonic Inspection using a Flaw Detector and
Angle Beam probes. Sonatest Flaw Detectors such
as the Sitescan range contain a range of software
features to assist with interpretation of ultrasonic
echoes from welds, as well as evaluation tools to
comply with a number of different inspection standards.
Phased array ultrasonic inspection, this essentially
replicates the principle of a standard ultrasonic
inspection, but by using electronic rather than
physical scanning over the weld volume, achieves
a much faster inspection rate.
Dye-penetrant inspection is used on many parts,
particularly where geometric considerations or thin
sections make other techniques difficult. Penetrant
is a surface technique: it can only detect defects
such as cracking or porosity which are open to the
surface.
Inspection of Brazed Joints
Inspection of brazed joints is generally similar
to weld inspection. Most commonly Ultrasound or
X-ray is used to detect disbonds or lack of brazing
material, penetrant inspection is used to detect
separated joints from the surface bonded joints.
Glued or bonded joints are used in many structures.
Inspection approaches are similar to those used
for composites, depending on the materials and bonding
techniques involved, either Pulse echo (Flaw Detector,
RapidScan) or through transmission (Flaw detector,
Airscan, Dryscan) Ultrasonic techniques may be used.
For single sided inspection of light components
such as aircraft parts the Zetec Sondicator is often
useful. |
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