Liquid Penetrant Testing

Discontinuities which can be revealed by penetrant inspection: opened - clean, without coating, and electroplating, hot and cold cracks, fatigue cracks, hardening cracks, pitting, porosity, shallow defects cause of fatigue cracks, minimum dimensions of detected defects (cracks): 1m wide, 10 mm depth and 1 mm in length. it is possible to detect material discontinuities of semi-finished and finished products, with even the most complicated shapes

Liquid Penetrant Testing

Discontinuities which can be revealed by penetrant inspection: Examples:
a) b) c) d) e) cold crack hot crack grinding crack shrinking crack stress corrosion crack porosity bubbles foam structure shrinkage porosity

f) g) h) i)

Liquid Penetrant Testing

Workpieces tested by liquid penetrant can not be highly porous (ceramic, wood) and have high roughness (metals). Materials used for testing (solvent, penetrant or developer) can not react with tested workpieces (plastic).

Liquid Penetrant Testing is based on penetration the liquids (called penetrant) with low surface tension, proper viscosity, wettability and low density The wettability phenomena

a) < 90 - good wetting b) and c ) < 90 - poor wetting

Liquid Penetrant Testing

The capilary rise phenomenon

(a) < 90 - capillary rise (b) = 90 - no capillary depression or rise. (c) > 90 - capillary depression

Liquid Penetrant Testing

Lipophilic and hydrophilic postemulsifiable penetrants

Liquid Penetrant Testing

There are 5 stages of the penetrant inspection 1. Surface preparation - cleaning, drying, oil and rust free surface (and other contaminantion)

Liquid Penetrant Testing

2. Penetration - after cleaning operation penetrant is applied into the surface in the form of thin liquid film, - the film should remain on the surface depends of the penetration time called as a dwell time (recomendation of the penetrant producer, mosty between 5 to 20min).

Liquid Penetrant Testing

3. Removal of excess penetrant

excess penetrant must be removed from the surface, removing method depends of the type of penetrant. many penetrants easily removed with water; others require the use of emulsifiers (lipophilic or hydrophilic) or solvent/remover. removing of excessive penetrant is necessary for effective inspection, but overremoval must be avoided (no discontinuities will be revealed).

Liquid Penetrant Testing

4. Development
developer starts seepage procees of the penetrant, time of developing depends of the developing agent used (mostly between 5 to 20min.)

Liquid Penetrant Testing

5. Inspection
after developing process the surface is visually examined for indications of penetrant which is visible like a colored stains. visible penetrant inspection is performed in white light, when the fluorescent penetrant is used, inspection is performed in a dark room under ultraviolet light, (penetrant is shinning).

Advantages of Penetrant Testing Relative ease of use. Can be used on a wide range of material types. Large areas or large volumes of parts/materials can be

inspected rapidly and at low cost. Parts with complex geometries are routinely inspected. Indications are produced directly on surface of the part providing a visual image of the discontinuity. Initial equipment investment is low. Aerosol spray cans can make equipment very portable.

Limitations of Penetrant Testing Only detects surface breaking defects. Requires relatively smooth nonporous material. Precleaning is critical. Contaminants can mask defects. Requires multiple operations under controlled
conditions. Chemical handling precautions necessary (toxicity, fire, waste). Metal smearing from machining, grinding and other operations inhibits detection. Materials may need to be etched prior to inspection. Post cleaning is necessary to remove chemicals.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

MAGNETIC PARTICLE INSPECTION

Method of locating surface and subsurface discontinuities in ferromagnetic materials. When the material or part under test is magnetized, magnetic discontinuities that lie in a direction generally transverse to the direction of the magnetic field cause a leakage field to be formed at and above the surface of the part. The discontinuity, is detected by the use of finely divided ferromagnetic particles applied over the surface, with some of the particles being gathered and held by the leakage field.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Limitation for Magnetic Particle Testing:
The method can be used only on ferromagnetic materials, For best results, the magnetic field must be in a direction that will intercept the principal plane of the discontinuity; this sometimes requires two or more sequential inspections with different magnetizations, Demagnetization following inspection is often necessary, Postcleaning to remove remnants of the magnetic particles clinging to the surface may sometimes be required after testing and demagnetization, Exceedingly large currents are sometimes needed for very large parts, Care is necessary to avoid local heating and burning of finished parts or surfaces at the points of electrical contact Although magnetic particle indications are easily seen, experience and skill are sometimes needed to judge their significance.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
Metals which conduct magnetic field: elements:
iron, nickel, cobalt,

alloys:
cast iron carbon steel

Ferromagnetic Materials
A material is considered ferromagnetic if it can be magnetized. Materials with a significant Iron, nickel or cobalt content are generally ferromagnetic.
Ferromagnetic materials are made up of many regions in which the magnetic fields of atoms are aligned. These regions are call magnetic domains. Magnetic domains point randomly in demagnetized material, but can be aligned using electrical current or an external magnetic field to magnetize the material.
S

Demagnetized

Magnetized

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Directions of the discontinuities

Magnetic Testing (MT)

The ways of magnetization

circular

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Magnetizing current

Both direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac) are suitable for magnetizing parts for magnetic particle inspection. The strength, direction, and distribution of magnetic fields are greatly affected by the type of current used for magnetization. The important difference with regard to magnetic particle inspection is that the fields produced by direct current generally penetrate the cross section of the part, while the fields produced by alternating current are confined to the metal at or near the surface of the part, a phenomenon known as the skin effect. Therefore, alternating current should not be used in searching for subsurface discontinuities.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Yokes

Two basic types of yokes that are commonly used for magnetizing purposes: permanent-magnet, electromagnetic yokes.

Both are hand held and therefore quite mobile.

Dry Magnetic Particles

Magnetic particles come in a variety of colors. A color that produces a high level of contrast against the background should be used.

Wet Magnetic Particles

Wet particles are typically supplied as visible or fluorescent. Visible particles are viewed under normal white light and fluorescent particles are viewed under black light.

Toe Crack in SMAW Weld

Visible, Dry Powder Method

Advantages of Magnetic Particle Inspection

Can detect both surface and near sub-surface defects. Can inspect parts with irregular shapes easily. Precleaning of components is not as critical as it is for some other inspection methods. Most contaminants within a flaw will not hinder flaw detectability. Fast method of inspection and indications are visible directly on the specimen surface. Considered low cost compared to many other NDT methods. Is a very portable inspection method especially when used with battery powered equipment.

Limitations of Magnetic Particle Inspection

Cannot inspect non-ferrous materials such as aluminum, magnesium
or most stainless steels. Inspection of large parts may require use of equipment with special power requirements. Some parts may require removal of coating or plating to achieve desired inspection sensitivity. Limited subsurface discontinuity detection capabilities. Maximum depth sensitivity is approximately 0.6 (under ideal conditions). Post cleaning, and post demagnetization is often necessary. Alignment between magnetic flux and defect is important