ME367: Non-Destructive Testing

(NDT)

MODULE 1

Introduction to NDT − Comparison between destructive and NDT, Importance of NDT, Scope of
NDT, Difficulties of NDT, Future progress in NDT, Economics aspects of NDT
VISUAL INSPECTION – Tools, applications and limitations. Fundamentals of visual testing –
Vision, Lighting, Material attributes, Environmental factors, Visual perception, Direct and
indirect methods mirrors, Magnifiers, Borescopes, Fibroscopes, Closed circuit television, Light
sources, special lighting, Computer enhanced system.

INTRODUCTION TO NON–DESTRUCTIVE TESTING (NDT):

 Non−Destructive Testing (NDT) is the process of determining the characteristics of the

materials, components or systems where we can detect and locate the discontinuities and
harmful defects without reducing the usefulness of such materials, components or systems.
 In other words, NDT is the means of testing the materials without causing any damage or
destruction to the material. In NDT, even after testing or inspecting, the sample will serve
its purpose.
 It is also known as Non−Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and Non-Destructive Inspection
(NDI).
 Non−Destructive Testing (NDT) plays an important role in quality control not only of
finished products, but also of semi-finished products as well as the initial raw materials.

Uses of NDT Methods:

 Automobiles: To detect the flaws in brakes, steering and critical engine components.
 Aerospace: To detect the corrosion, fatigue, operation and maintenance defects, fabrication
defects using penetrant inspection method.
 Pipelines: NDT is used to inspect oil and gas industry pipelines to detect any leakage in the
pipes.
 Pressure vessels: Tanks are inspected using radiography and ultrasonic testing to inspect
where there is a leakage (or) release of enormous amount of energy.
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 Power plants: To examine the structural integrity of primary circuit components such as
boiler, condenser tubes, turbine components, etc.
 Quality control in raw materials, semi-finished and finished components.
 To determine the remaining life of the component by retaining its structural integrity.
 Dimensional measurement and material sorting.

Objectives of NDT:

 To aid in better product design.

 To control manufacturing process.
 To detect defect location and characterization.
 To lower the manufacturing cost and maintain uniform quality level.

Characteristics of NDT
 Applied directly to the product
 Tested parts are not damaged
 Various tests can be performed on the same product
 Specimen preparation not required
 Can be performed on parts that are in service
 Low time consumption
 Low labour cost

MATERIALS TESTING:

Materials testing are the measurement of characteristics such as physical and mechanical
properties of substances such as metals, ceramics (or) plastics under various conditions.
Materials testing breaks down into five major categories:

 Mechanical testing.
 Testing for thermal properties.
 Testing for electrical properties.
 Testing for resistance to corrosion, radiation.
 Non-destructive testing.

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Important engineering characteristics of materials:

 Mechanical properties
o Density.
o Strength.
o Hardness.
o Ductility.
o Toughness.
o Fatigue resistance.
o Creep.
 Chemical properties
o Reactivity. .
o Combustibility.
 Thermal properties
o Thermal conductivity.
o Coefficient of expansion.
o Melting point.
 Electrical properties
o Conductivity.
 Optical properties
o Transmissivity.
o Colour.
 Physical properties
o Surface finish.
o Size and shape.
o Colour.
o Porosity and structure.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN DESTRUCTIVE AND NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING:

DESTRUCTIVE TEST NON-DESTRUCTIVE TEST

 Non-destructive testing is the process of
 Destructive testing is the method where the
determining the characteristics of materials
specimen is broken to determine the
to locate the defect without destroying the
physical and mechanical properties.
material.
 Mainly used to detect the properties of the  Mainly used to find out the defects of the
material. material.
 As the measurements are indirect,
 Measurements are direct and reliable.
reliability is to be verified.
 Load is applied on the material.  Load is not applied on the material.
 Mainly involves quantitative measurement  Mainly involves qualitative measurement.
 Special equipments are required.  Special devices and instruments are needed.
 Correlation between the test measurements  Skilled labours are required to interpret the
and material properties are direct. result
 A destructive test cannot be repeated on the  A non-destructive test can be repeated on
same specimen as it is being destroyed. the same specimen.
 Testing is made 100% on the actual
 Testing is not made on the object directly.
component.
 • Test equipment are not portable.  Test equipment is often portable.
 Using a single specimen, only a one (or)  Many properties of the specimen can be
few properties of the material can be measured as many NDT methods can be
measured. applied on the same specimen.
 Tests are not made on the objects actually  Tests are made directly upon the objects to
used in service. be used in service.

 Measurement of properties over a  Non-destructive tests permit repeated

cumulative period of time cannot be checks of a given unit over a period of
measured in a single unit. time.

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DESTRUCTIVE TEST NON-DESTRUCTIVE TEST

 It is very costly for the preparation of test  Little or no specimen preparation Is
specimen. required.
 The time and man − hour requirements of  Most NDT methods are rapid and require
many destructive tests are very high. fewer man − hours.
 (e.g) Tensile test, compression test,  (eg) Visual inspection, liquid penetrant test,
hardness test, impact test, torsion test, etc. eddy current test, radiographic testing, etc.

CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIALS TESTS:

The materials tests can be classified into:

1. Destructive tests.

2. Non − Destructive Tests.

Destructive Testing:

 Destructive testing is the method where the specimen is broken down to determine the
physical and mechanical properties such as strength, toughness and ductility. The
commonly used destructive tests include:
(i) Tensile test. (ii) Compression test. (iii) Shear test. (iv) Hardness test. (v) Fatigue test.
(vi) Impact test. (vii) Creep test. (viii) Torsion and bending test.

Tensile Test:

 Tensile testing is also known as “Tension testing” where the specimen is subjected to
controlled tension until the failure (or) fracture occurs.
 It is performed on ductile materials to determine the ultimate tensile strength, maximum
elongation and reduction in area, Young‟s modulus, poisson‟s ratio, yield strength and
strain-hardening characteristics.
 Tensile test is carried out using the Universal Testing Machine (UTM).

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Compression Test:

 Compression Test is performed in same manner as tensile test but the load here is
compressive in nature. It is suitable for brittle material.

Impact Test:

 A notch is cut at the standard specimen which is blown using the impact testing machine.
Using the scale on the testing machine, energy absorbed in breaking the specimen is
measured.
 Types of Impact Test: (i) Izod test − Specimen is placed as a cantilever beam.
(ii) Charpy test − Specimen is placed as a simply supported beam.

Hardness Tests:

 The resistance to indentation and to scratching or abrasion is known as hardness. The two
most common hardness tests are the Brinell test and the Rockwell test.
 In Brinell hardness test, a known load is applied for a given period of time to a specimen
surface using a hardened steel or tungsten-carbide ball, causing a permanent indentation.
Standard ball diameter is 10 millimeters, or approximately four-tenths of an inch. The
diameter of the resulting permanent indentation is then measured and converted to a Brinell
hardness number.
 The Rockwell hardness test involves the use of an indentor for penetrating the surface of a
material first by applying a minor, or initial load, and then applying a major, or final load
under specific conditions. The difference between the minor and major penetration depths
is then noted as a hardness value directly from a dial or digital readout. The harder the
material the higher the number.

Non-Destructive Testing:

 Visual Inspection
 Liquid Penetrant Testing
 Magnetic Particle Testing
 Eddy Current Testing

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 Thermography Testing
 Ultrasonic Testing
 Acoustic Emission Testing
 Radiography Testing

IMPORTANCE OF NDT:
 NDT increases the safety and reliability of the product during operation.
 It decreases the cost of the product by reducing scrap and conserving materials, labour and
energy.
 Applied directly to the product.
 Tested parts are not damaged.
 Various tests can be performed on the same product.
 Specimen preparation is not required.
 Can be performed on parts that are in service.
 Low time consumption.
 Low labour cost.

SCOPE OF NDT:
 There are four main ways in which non-destructive testing can be incorporated into
manufacturing practice:
1. To provide control of quality at product manufacture or during plant fabrication.
2. To ensure that an item conforms to specification.
3. To examine plant, equipment or components during service, in order to meet the
requirements or as an insurance against premature breakdown or failure.
4. As a diagnostic tool in research and development.
 Non-destructive testing is not confined to the factory and foundry. On-site testing of
pressure vessels, pipelines and bridges, and in-service maintenance of airframes, aero-
engines and refinery installations all present special problems to both instrument designer
and operator.
 Then again, automated inspection, computer-aided manufacturing and in-line process

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control raise quite different problems. Figure 1.1 shows a range of surface and internal
variables that may need to be controlled and hence monitored now destructively, again
emphasizing that flaw location and sizing represents only one of the many facts that may
need to be considered when assessing overall quality.

Fig 1.1: The scope of NDT

 Non-destructive testing during production and fabrication is closely allied with „condition‟
monitoring of plant during service and regular „health‟ monitoring oil installed machinery.
Many of the techniques can also be adapted for manufacturing control, enabling flaws to be
eliminated as early as possible during the manufacturing process. NDT is also now an
important element in the „fitness-for-purpose‟ philosophy of manufacture in which design,
materials selection, manufacturing and quality control are integrated and properly
coordinated.

DIFFICULTIES OF NDT:
 Lack of skilled operators.
 There may be an interference of background noises with the actual signal which is reflected

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back from the original material.

 Difficulties like wrong positioning, orientation and the wrong determination of the defect
type will be there.
 Lack of protective equipments may cause damage to the operating person as in case of
radiography testing by radiations.
 Surface preparation is necessary. Presence of oil, grease, paint, dirt may cause error in the
output.

FUTURE PROGRESS IN NDT:

There are two general trends within the NDT community that are influencing
development. First one is the instrumentation which is being developed to reduce the
operator‟s involvement as much as possible through automating functions and computerizing
results. On the other side there are significant efforts to quantify or standardize the human
element through training and qualification. These trends will continue. External factors are
several. Perhaps most implant is the introduction of computers to document results to simplify
instrumentation and even to analyse and interpret test data. Second is an increasing demand
from users for more precision, more reliability and more speed. As users become more
dependent on NDT results, to support extended component life and lower factors of safety, this
pressure will increase. Finally the need for specialist technicians as well as applications
specialists will grow to cope with the many opportunities being presented. There is a new
factor coming into NDT, which seems likely to bring major modifications to most NDT
methods. This is the use of computer techniques, using small computers. Apart from this it is
now possible to collect, store and process vast quantities of digital data at very high speeds. For
example, in ultrasonic testing, in the signals produced by a transducer from a flaw there is a
mass of data which is not used in conventional ultrasonic flaw detection. This can all be taken
into a data store, and computer programmes devised to extract information such as spectral
composition, rise-time, pulse length, and maximum amplitude. In addition, the computer can
be used to choose the technique parameters for a given application, to adjust the equipment
accordingly, and to prove warning if there are deviations, or a change in monitoring signals.

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Types of Defects

1. Inherent defect:
Formed during the initial production of raw material.
ex: Porosity, cavity, voids etc.
2. Processing defect:
Formed during the processing of component.
ex: Surface and subsurface cracks developing due to mechanical and thermal processing like
grinding, heat treatment etc.
3. Service defects:
Formed during operating cycle of component.
ex: surface and subsurface cracks due to fatigue, stress corrosion, hydrogen embrtllment , etc

VISUAL INSPECTION:
 Visual Inspection is one of the simplest, fastest and most commonly used non-
destructive testing method.
 As the name implies, Visual Inspection involves the visual observation of test specimen
to detect the presence of surface discontinuities.
 It may be done by direct viewing (or) with the help of optical instruments such as
magnifying glasses, mirrors, borescope (or) microscope to inspect closely the subject
area.
 Corrosion, misalignment of parts, physical damage and cracks are some of the
discontinuities which can be detected by visual inspection.

Principle:
 The basic procedure involved in the visual inspection is the illumination of the test
specimen with the light, usually in the visible region.
 It also requires the proper eye-sight of the tester.
 The surface of the test specimen is adequately cleaned before inspection, where the test
specimen is illuminated and inspected using the naked eye (or) with the help of optical
aids such as mirrors, magnifying glasses, microscopes (or) video-cameras.

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Visual Testing Requirements:

 The requirements for visual testing typically depend on three areas:
o The inspector’s vision.
o To check whether the area being inspected is obstructed for the inspector.
o To check the amount of light falling on the specimen using the light meter.

APPLICATIONS OF VISUAL INSPECTION:

 It is used to inspect whether there is a misalignment of parts in the equipment. It checks
for corrosion, erosion, cracks and deformities of machine components.
 It inspects the plant components for any leakage (or) abnormal operation.
 It is used in pumps, compressors, turbo generator to check for minute discontinuities.
 It is used to identify the defects in weldments.
LIMITATIONS OF VISUAL INSPECTION:
 Using unaided inspection, only large discontinuities are identified.
 Limited to detection of only surface discontinuities.
 Skilled labour is required.
 Results depend on the eye resolution of the inspector.
 It may cause eye fatigue to the inspector.

FUNDAMENTALS OF VISUAL TESTING:

VISION:

The eye

 Human eye is the most valuable NDT tool.

 Sensitivity of the human eye varies according to the light source.
 Human eye has an excellent visual perception.
 Yellow green light of wavelength 5560Å is the most suitable light for human eye at
normal condition.
 For maximum efficiency, human inspector is not allowed to work for more than 2
hours continuously.
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 An adequate lighting of about 800 − 1000 lux should be provided.

Types of Visual Inspection: (Direct and indirect methods)

1. Unaided Visual Inspection (Direct method).

2. 2. Aided Visual Inspection. (Indirect method)

1. Unaided Visual Inspection: (Direct method)
 It is also known as direct visual inspection.
 It can be accomplished with the help of naked eye.
 Inspection can be done without using any optical aids
 Defects Detected:
o Presence or absence of cracks, corrosion layer, position of the cracks.
o Unfilled craters and contour of the welded parts.
o Surface porosity and general condition of the component.
o Misalignment of mated parts.
2. Aided Visual Inspection: (Indirect methods)
 It is also known as indirect visual inspection.
 A visual inspection which is performed using any optical aids (such as magnifying
mirrors, borescopes, telescopes, etc..)
 It is used to magnify the defects which cannot be detected by human eye.
 It permits visibility to areas which are not accessible to human eye.

LIGHTING:

An important factor affecting visual tests is lighting. If appropriate lighting is not

achieved, any amount of magnification is not going to improve the image. The amount of
light required for a visual test is dependent on the type of test, the importance of speed and
accuracy, glare and an inspector‟s vision capability. Inspector variables such as
physiological processes, psychological state, working experience, health and fatigue while
not affecting the system of light travel and image projection all contribute to the accuracy
of a visual inspector. For an appropriate visual inspection, suitable lighting of about 800 −
1000 lux is to be provided.

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Lighting Sources:
 Incandescent lamps.
 Fluorescent lamps.
 High intensity discharge lamps.
MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES/FACTORS THAT AFFECT VISUAL TESTING:

1. Surface Conditions:
o Cleanliness.
o Colour.
o Texture.
2. Physical Conditions:

o Specimen Conditions.
o Shape.
o Size.
o Temperature.
3. Environmental Factors:
o Atmosphere.
o Cleanliness.
o Humidity and Temperature.
o Safety.

4. Physiological Factors:
o Physical Comfort.
o Health.
o Mental Attitude.
o Fatigue.
o Test Item Position.
VISUAL PERCEPTION:

 It is the interpretation of impressions transmitted from retina of the eye to the brain in
terms of information about the specimen which is viewed in the visual inspection.
 Visual Perception depends on the vision acuity.

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 Human eye has an excellent visual perception.

It involves the following steps:

 Recognising the presence of defect in the specimen.
 Identifying it.
 Locating the defect in the specimen.
 Noting its relation to the surface.
 Identifying its features like size, shape, colour, etc.
OPTICAL AIDS (TOOLS) USED IN VISUAL INSPECTION:
 Mirrors.
 Magnifying glasses.
 Microscopes.
 Borescope.
 Endoscope.
 Flexible Fibre − Optic Borescope.
 Telescope.
 Holography.
 Optical comparators.
 Closed − Circuit Television (CCTV) system.
 Computer enhanced systems.

Magnifying Mirrors:
 It is also known as concave spherical mirrors.
 It is used to magnify the areas which are not accessible to human eye.
 Magnifying Mirrors work on the principle that angle of incidence of a light beam is
equal to the angle of reflection of the same beam of light.

Magnifying Glass:

 It is also known as hand lens.

 It is a convex lens which is used to produce a magnified image
 It works on a principle that if an object is placed on one side of a convex lens closer to
it than the focal point, then the image will be formed on the same side as the object
and the resultant would be a magnified one.

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 Magnification of a magnifying glass depends on the position where it is being placed

between the human eye and the object.
 For lower power magnification, simple lens is used and on the other hand for high
power magnification, double or multiple lenses are used.

Microscope:
 Microscope is an optical instrument having a magnifying lens or a combination of
lenses which is used to magnify the image of a small object.

 The simplest form of a microscope is a single converging lens which is also known as
simple magnifier.
 The object is placed between the lens and the focal length of lens and the distance
from lens to object is adjusted until a clear image is obtained.
 Magnification power of the lens is given by the equation, M = 10 ⁄ f, where f is the
focal length of the lens and 10 represents the average minimum distance where the
image is seen clearly by the unaided eye.
 Depth of field defines the distance the lens can be moved towards or away from the
object so that the object remains in good focus.
 For low-power magnifier, depth of field is high and it decreases as the power of lens
increases.

Borescope:
 Borescope is an optical instrument which is used to inspect the inside of a narrow tube,
bore or chamber.

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 It consists of a rigid or flexible tube with an eyepiece at one end and an objective lens
on the other end.
 It consists of a complex arrangement of prisms and plain lenses through which the
light is passed to obtain a clear image.
 It is available in diameter which ranges from 2.5 to 19 mm and of smaller length, as
the length of borescope increases, brightness of the image decreases due to loss of
light.

 There are three types of borescopes:

o Rigid borescopes.
o Flexible borescopes.
o Video borescopes.

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Endoscope:
 It is same as the borescope but it has a superior optical system and a high-intensity
light source.

 It is also used to examine the interior of an object

 Objects are in focus from 4 mm to infinity, where a magnification factor of „10X‟ is
obtained when it is at 4 mm distance.

 No focusing‟ feature is the one which makes it preferable than borescope.

 Endoscope are available in smaller diameter upto 1.7 mm which makes it comfortable
for viewing smaller objects and ranges to a length of about 100 to 150 mm.

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Fibroscopes:
 It is also known as flexible fibre-optic borescope (or) flexiscopes.
 It is used to provide clear and sharp images of parts and interior surfaces which are not
easily accessible.
 Fibre optics is used to carry the information and it permits several dimensional
changes depending on the object.
 Tip can be adjusted using rotating control mechanism depending on the object size and
it also has a wide-angle objective lens with a 100° field of view.
 It ranges to a diameter of about 3 to 12.5 mm with a length which varies from 60 to
365 cm.

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Telescope:
 Telescope is a device which makes the faraway objects to appear much closer.
 It consists of two lenses called objective and eyepiece.
 Glass lenses are provided at the refractor telescopes and mirror replaces the glass
lenses in case of reflector telescopes.
 The objective lens (in refractors) (or) primary mirror (in reflectors) collects light from
the object and focuses as it to a point.
 An eyepiece lens takes the light from the focus and magnifies it.
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV):
 Closed Circuit Television is a system where the circuit in which the video transmitted
will be a closed one.
 Elements like camera, display monitors, recording devices are connected to each other.
 It has a high-resolution display and has the ability to zoom in (or) track the defects
from the features.

LIGHT SOURCES:
For various reasons, visual inspection cannot be carried out using day light.
Classification of light sources:
1) Continuous and 2) Non-Continuous
1) Continuous:
(a) Flash Lamp:
 It is a tungsten filament bulb, with a battery supply upto 12 V.
 It is portable and easy to use.
(b) Incandescent Lamps:
 Incandescent lamps are the oldest electric lighting technologies available.
 They are used as microscopic lights.
 Light is produced by passing a current through tungsten filament, causing it to become
hot and glow.
 Lifetime of this light source is short as the tungsten evaporates slowly causing the
filament to break.
(c) Discharge Lamps:

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 They are gas discharge lamps.

 They are rarely used as they emit only selective wavelength of light.
 Mercury and sodium vapour lamps come under this type.
(d) Fluorescent Lamps:
 It consists of glass tube which is filled with argon or argon-krypton gas.
 Glass tubes are coated with phosphorus and electrodes are placed at both ends.
 It provides soft uniform light over a large area. Fluorescent lamps provide light by the
following process:
 An electric discharge (current) is maintained between the electrodes through the
mercury vapour and inert gas.
 This current excites the mercury atoms, causing them to emit non-visible ultraviolet
(UV) radiation.
 This UV radiation is converted into visible light by the phosphorus coated over the
tube.
2) Non-continuous – Electronic Flash (Stroboscopic):
 It uses a synchronised pulse of light to inspect the moving components.
 It makes rotary/moving components appear still, so that the component can be
inspected accurately.
SPECIAL LIGHTING:
1. Front lighting:
The light source and image sensor are on the same side of the component.
It is the most convenient mode for machine vision systems.
2. Back lighting:
The light source and image sensor are placed on opposite sides of the
component.
3. Structured lighting:
It is a combination of light source and optical element to form a line of
light. The line of light can be formed in two ways,
(a) By placing a semi cylindrical lens in front of light source.
(b) By using a scanning mirror to deflect a laser beam.
4. Strobe lighting:
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Strobe lighting is used to image moving objects or still objects with
potential movement. In this technique, a pulse of light illuminates the object momentarily.
5. Ultraviolet lighting:
Ultraviolet light causes fluorescent material to glow and is used in liquid
penetrant and magnetic particle testing for detecting discontinuities.
6. Optical filtering:
Image sensors used in machine vision systems detect the intensity of the
electromagnetic waves in the visible range. If only a portion of visible spectrum is of
interest, a filter in front of sensor is used to produce a high quality image. Band pass filters
transmit a band of electromagnetic waves and reject the remaining. Short pass filters

transmit the waves below a cut off wavelength. Long pass filter transmits the waves above
a cut off wavelength. Neutral density filters attenuate the light level incident on the image
sensor.
7. Image sensors:
The two main types of image sensors are image tube and solid state
imaging devices.
(i) Image tubes: These are used to generate a train of electrical pulses that represent
light intensities present in an optical image focused on the tube.
(ii) Solid state imaging devices: The principle is based on the photoelectric effect and
the fact that free electrons are generated in a region of silicon illuminated by photons. The
number of free electrons is linearly proportional to the incident photons. If the pattern of
incident intensity is an optical image of an object, then the charge packets generated form
an electric image of the object.

COMPUTER ENHANCED VISUAL SYSTEM:

Introduction:

The computer enhanced visual system makes use of a video camera for data collection
and a computer (software) for data analysis. The following block diagram explains the
computer enhanced visual system.

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Fig. 1.2: Block diagram for computer enhanced system.

 Process control system controls the overall inspection process.

 It provides the commands and provides the timing signals to control the system wide
database.
 Sensing system provides the illumination source for the part.
 Special purpose sensor system, such as scanning triangulation sensors, may require
sophisticated optical systems such as scanning mirrors, elliptical mirrors and
holographic gratings.
 Image Processing system gets the input image data from the sensing system
 Flaw Analysis System examines the areas identified by image processing system and
determines the part classification based on flaw decision rule.
 Frame grabber card in the flaw analysis system examines the image which is captured
by camera in the image processing system.
 The software in the computer then analyses the image and makes a decision as
whether the object passes or fails in the inspection.
 Depending on the level of automation, task of the inspector is reduced.

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(NDT)

Advantages:

 It can be re-programmed offline on another machine.

 It can be used to inspect wide range of products.
 It can work throughout the day and does not get tired.
 Inspection can be done at a higher speed than human being.
 Maintains consistency of inspection.

Disadvantages:

 Software must be carefully selected and implemented.

 Lighting conditions must be well designed.
 It follows only the rules and does not take real-time decisions.

HARISH T M - FISAT Page 23