The International Maintenance Seminar 2002 MIDTH Institute” Non-Destructive Testing and Crack Repair by Jorgen Holtemann Lecture 08-02MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute™ TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1, THE FIVE NDT CATEGORIES 2. NDT AND MAINTENANCE 24 Penetrating Radiation 2.2 X-Ray and Radioisotope. 2.3 Eddy Current 24 Dye Penetrants. 2.5 Magnetic Particle 2.6 Ultrasonic Testing... 3. CONCLUSIONMIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute™ 1. THE FIVE NDT CATEGORIES NDT - Non Destructive Testing, NDE - Non Destructive Examination, contains many aspects. As the title indicates, the objects are not harmed in any way. The following Non Destructive Test techniques exist: + Penetrating Radiation a) Xray b) Radium and radioisotope + Ultrasonic + Magnetic particle a) AC (Wet or dry) b) DC (Wet or dry) + Electromagnetic a) Eddy Current ) Magnetic Property Analyses + Penetrants a) Visible Dye Penetrant b) Fluorescent Dye Penetrant 2. NDT AND MAINTENANCE Relevant for maintenance in a cement plant are ultrasonic testing, magnetic particle testing and dye penetrant testing which are the methods described in more details in this lecture. The other techniques will only be superficially treated. 2.1 Penetrating Radiation ‘The examination practice in X-RAY and RADIOISOTOPE inspection are the same, but the radiation is different. Gamma and X-rays darken a photographic film in the same way as visible light, Gamma and X-rays are electromagnetic radiations just as rays of light, and they differ from visible light only in their respective wavelengths, Because of their shortmIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar wavelengths gamma-rays are able to penetrate material opaque to visible light. The principle is visualised below: Figure 1. Principle for viualisation of imperfections using X-rays. 2.2 X-Ray and Radioisotope A metal object containing intemal cracks, gas cavities or inclusions of sand or slag is inspected by letting the rays pass through it and form a radiograph (actually a shadowgraph) on a photographic film placed behind the object. The principle is identical with that used by the medical and dental professions in the radiography of the body and of the teeth On the film we will obtain a “negative” of the test piece. The bright areas are where the radiation has moved through the thickest parties (for example welding). The darker area show where the ray has passed "thinner" material thicknesses as is the case with gas porosities. Advantage: Very good documentation, Disadvantage: Uneconomie, health-risk, and the location of a defect is not possible to determine in the thickness direction.MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute” Figure 2. Weld seam and X-ray film picture. X-ray examination of filletweld is impossible, whereas ultrasonic testing is possible. Figure 3. Weldings which cannot be tested with X-ray. 2.3. Eddy CurrentmIDTH Institute™ The International Maintenance Seminar ‘This method is used in automatic test systems for tubes and bars. With smaller transportable equipment it is possible to find cracks and metallurgical variations. The reliabilit y is, however, unsatisfactory. This method is net recommended for cement plants, A.C. Machine Magnetic Field Eady Current Figure 4. Principle for generation of eddy current An eddy current will arise in an electrically conductive material, when exposed to a magnetic variation. The magnetic variation can possibly come from a coil energized by altemating current. Advantage: Very fast. Disadvantage: Only usable on electric conductive materials, 2.4 Dye Penetrants Testing with dye penetrants (penetrating fluid) is used to find cracks, overlaps, porosities and other similar discontinuities on the surface of the subject made of non-porous materials, Usually, the test is pecformed at normal rom temperature, but with help of special fluids the test can be performed at other temperatures,¢ MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute™ ‘The normal penetrating systems are usable in the temperature area -5° C to + 60°C. At lower temperatures another penetrating system is usable from -15° C to + 35% At higher temperatures the penetrant system is usable up to 0 260° C. The normal procedure is: a) Clean the surface. All fragments as dust, forging- or iron fragments have to be removed. A very carefully degreasing is necessary too, b) The penetrant (red) is sprayed or painted on the cleaned surface. The penetrants need some time to penetrate into possible cracks or other defects: Penetrating Times 260-200 fe 1 min, 200 - 150 °C 2 min, 150-90 °C 3 min, 90 - 60 °C 4 min, 60-35 °C S min. 35-10 $c 10min, 10-0 °C 20min. Oto-10 °C 40 min. As the table shows the penetrating times are extremely long at low temperatures. To shorten the waiting time it is possible to preheat the examined object. ) Excessive penetrant is removed with a cloth and a cleaner. The penetrant is sometimes water soluble, and the penetrant can then be removed with water. A mistake often seen to remove the excessive penetrant is washing with the cleaner. If you are washing too hard, you will remove the penetrant from the defects which should have been detected.MIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar d) When the surface is clean and dry the developer is sprayed or painted very evenly on the surface, It is essential that the layer is not too thick. The developer is an absorbing (white) powder dissolved in a volatile fluid. €) The defects (cracks) will be clearly visible as red contours on the white background, Lesser used in the cement industry is fluorescent dye penetrant which in principle is the same as the above. With fluorescent dye penetrant a UV-lamp has to be used (ultraviolet light), De ee Figure 5. a and b: deep cracks. ¢ and d: contaminated cracks. Common Remarks With both methods it is essential to remember that surfaces contaminated with oil are very often not testable with dye penetrant, because possible eracks are "blocked", i.c., filled up with an unremovable greasy substances. Another important thing is that very deep cracks are able to consume plenty of penetrant, in some cases so much that the penetrant is sucked away from the surface, The common result from these two remarks is that no cracks have been detected although a crack really exists. Advantage: Inexpensive, Easy to operate. Easy to transport. Disadvantage: Surface has to be free of grease and oil. 2.5 Magnetic Particle The first tentative steps were taken more than a hundred years ago, when a magnetic compass was used to detect defects in rails and gun barrels. ‘The Danish physicist, Oersted, had showed that when a current is flowing along a conductor, a compass needle will be deflected, and will take up a position at right angles to the currentMIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute™ direction. It was therefore clear that a suitable current passing through a ferromagnetic material has an associated circular magnetic field which surrounds the magnetized body. Magnetic field lines Se, or Magnetization / a coil fs Figure 6. Generation of magnetic field by use of coil. What Can be Tested? All ferromagnetic materials with a permeability of m > 100. ‘The range of ferromagnetic materials includes: + Alltypes of steel and their alloys with the exception of austenitic steels. + Cast iron and cast steel. What Can be Detected? ‘All surface and near surface crack-type defects which, due to their position and size, proportionally influence the magnetic field, provided that the crack width-depth-length dimensions are in the ratio = 1-10-50.MIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar Why is a Defect Indicated? When a ferromagnetic material is magnetized, the magnetic flux will flow within the magnetically conducting medium. When the flux lines meet an area of low magnetic conductivity. distribution: i.e. a surface crack. the associated high magnetic resistance changes the flux Test body Crack Direction of the magnetic field fines Curent flow Figure 7. Strayflux which attracts and retains iron powder The field lines in the sound material are diverted. A small proportion pass through the material defect, whereas the majority is diverted out of the surface to form a bridge over the defect. The field lines diverted out of the surface are termed "magnetic strayflux” and form the basis of magnetic powder techniques. With this technique the magnetic strayflux is identified by applying fine iron powder or iron-oxide powder to the surface of the item being examined, 10MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute” The magnetic strayflux lines move into a basically non-conducting medium, and are there exposed to a relatively high magnetic resistance. To reduce this magnetic resistance the stray field attracts all the nearest freely-moveable iron particles which combine to form a magnetic bridge over the defect. This manifestation in the shape of a powder pattern can be easily identified as a defective area. When Can a Defect be Detected? Optimum crack detection occurs when the magnetic field lines are at right-angles to the defect. The angle between the field direction and the expected defect position should not, however, be less than 30°. ¢ C HCC / 4010 50 mm Figure 8. Cracks should be at right angle to the magnetic field lines. ilMIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar *Inccation| Wilbe Wit be Incoming possible indicated 7 indicated magrete field tines utgcing t SS magnetic fils tines Positively ~ Indicaiec Figure 9. Crack orieniation and detection possibilities. ‘© Intererystaline cracks often have numerous components transverse to the given direction of an induced magnetic field. In this case it is possible to indicate defects even though they lie parallel to the magnetic field. Can Sub-Surface Inclusions be Detected? Magnetic powder techniques are usually considered to be surface crack detection techniques ‘There is the possibility, however, that near-surface defects of favourable positions and adequate size can be indicated.MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute” Figure 10. Stray flux deposit at internal defect. Magnetic powder techniques cannot be recommended for the detection of internal defects, because the possibility of a defect indication rapidly decreases when the defect is more than 0.2 mm below the surface. With sub-surface inclusions the magnetic field lines in the "good" material between the inclusion and the work piece surface are compressed, with the result that, relatively few lines are diverted out of the surface. Stray fields resulting from sub-surface inclusions are generally very wide, and give weak, flat or less distinct indications. Itis difficult to positively identify a defect from such indications, even assuming considerable operator test experience. How is the Magnetization Obtained? 1. Magnetization by current flow. 2. Magnetization with a current-carrying conductor. 3. Yoke magnetization. What Methods are Used by FLS? BmMIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar Previously we used magnetization by current flow, but this method has a tendency to make some "burn marks” from the electrodes which could initiate a crack. Today, FLS prefers yoke magnetization. 2.6 Ultrasonic Testing In addition to the methods for the non-destructive testing of material surfaces. in particular for coarse and fine material separations (dye-penetration method, magnetic powder method) up to the start of the “fifties” the tester only knew the X-ray method as a non destructive testing method for internal flaws. Then ultrasonics were introduced. It was very quickly noticed, however, that the X-ray method (or radiography) and the "ultrasonic method’ differ regarding the detectability of certain flaws When is it Better to Use Ultrasonic Instead of X-ray? 1. In general with lesser wall thicknesses, small inclusions can be detected easier using the X-ray method than using ultrasonics. As a rule, the thicker the pieces to be tested are, flaw detectability is better using ultrasonics, than using X-rays, 3. The detection of material separations such as cracks and laminar defects is usually more difficult, if not impossible, using X-rays 4. In patti easily with ultrasonics. ular material separations, especially crack and lack of fusion can be detected very 5, In many situations ultrasonic testing is considerably more economical than the X-ray method. 6. Contrary to X-ray the ultrason test does not present any real difficulties. 7. The automation of the ultrasonic test does not present any real difficulties. In principle fast automatic X-ray testing is not possible. What is Ultrasonic? Ultrasonic is sound, and sound is vibrations/oscillations. The human ear is able to detect sound from 16 hz to 18.000 hz (vibrations/second), All sound above is ultrasonic. ‘The base to use ultrasonics in different materials is, that sound with very high oscillation is transmitted as a beam.MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute™ What we need is a pulse generator, an amplifier, an oscilloscope and a probe to transform the electrical pulses into mechanical oscillations (ultrasound) and vice versa, converting sound oscillations into electrical ones. Most ultrasonic equipment contains all these features The following block diagram shows the general principle in the ultrasonic puls-echo testing system, control unit pulse generator transmitting probe material receiving probe amplifier CRT screen Figure 11. Block diagram for ultrasonic pulse-echo system. How Are We Able to Detect Discontinuities? The actual "tool" by the ultrasonic testing is the probe: 15MIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar socket housing damping block ~ piezoelectric transducer protective membrane or hard face Figure 12. Ultrasonic probe (sender and receiver). The probe is used to scan the test specimen. The probe sends ultrasonic oscillations into the specimen, and picks these up again, provided they are reflected inside the test specimen. 8 = Tost piece Figure 13. Reflection of flat defec: (left) and 3-dimensional discontinuity (right) 16MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute” A spatially extended discontinuity, ie. a three dimensional discontinuity, reflects the oncoming ultrasonic oscillations in several directions. If the amount of sound received by the probe is sufficient to generate or release a signal, then the detecting of the subject's spatial discontinuity is not critical from the tester's point of view. If the discontinuity reflects the impinging ultrasonic oscillations in directions so the sound not be detected. To find such problematic discontinuities, the ultrasonic operator needs much experience. does not return to the probe, it is most likely that the discontinuity How Does the Ultrasonic Impulse Look on the Oscilloscope? ‘The returned sound pulse releases an electrical pulse, or voltage pulse, in the crystal in the probe (the piezo-electric effect). This voltage pulse is used to deflect the point of light into a vertical direction on the CRT screen. Figure 14. Echo on CRT screen. Without start echo (left) and with start echo (right). ‘© In reality, however, the CRT display is not shown for the operator as above, because the electrical transmission pulse is very strong and generates a start echo away from the real starting point. The signal starts from the probe crystal). The screen looks as shown in. 14, Figure 17MIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar enrink holes Figure 15. Different pes of flaws and their echo indications. Where do We Have Problems with Ultrasonic Testing? © What, if we have a small discontinuity just below the surface of the test. specimen ? Can this discontinuity still be detected? The immediately in front of the probe face’ intermediate echo from the discontinuity disappears into the transmission pulse and 18MiDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute” perhaps nothing indicates on the CRT screen that the test specimen contains a discontinuity. ‘* The experienced ultrasonic operator has still possibilities to find such discontinuities close to the surface, if the discontinuity blanks off a considerable portion of the sound pulse. ‘Then only the rest of the sound pulse deliver a backwall echo, which appears to be considerably less distinct. Figure 16. Non-detection (left) and detection of discontinuity just under the surface at probe (right). 19MIDTH Institute” The Intemational Maintenance Seminar What Types of Probes Exist? Probes which transmit a perpendicular sound beam are known as “normal beam probes”, because they send sound pulses into the test specimen which are NORMAL, or so-called perpendicular, to the surface of the test specimen. Most of the standard normal beam probes wansmit and reccive "longitudinal wave" pulses, they are "pressure wave pulses which propagate in material in the form of zones of compression and rarefaction. The normal beam probe has frequencies from 0.5 MHz to 15 MHz, For ultrasonic testing of FLS supporting roller shafts we normally use 2 MHz. W= Transducer u Pulse of fongitudinal waves Figure 17. Probe and generation of longindinal wave. Probes which transmit their sound beams at an angle are known as angle beam probes, because they send and receive the sound pulses into and from the test specimen at a certain angle to the surface. Most of the standard angle beam probes transmit and receive transverse waves (also known as shear waves) which are characterized by particle displacements perpendicular to the propagating direction of the transverse waves. 20MIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute” transverse wave pulse Figure 18. Angle beam probe. The question why standard angle beam probes do not generate longitudinal waves cannot be answered in a few words. When detecting discontinuities which are close to the surface angle beam probes encounter the same difficulties as comparable normal beam probes. For this reason there are TR-probes (TransmiReceive-probes). Contrary to the standard normal beam probes and standard angle beam probes the TR-probes have 2 crystals, one of which is purely the transmitter, and the other purely the receiver. The complete isolation of the transmitting and receiving functions enables the crystal to be mounted in the probe fairly far away from the surface of the test specimen. The long delay path keeps the transmission pulse away from the surface so that it can no longer have an interfering effect on the screen. Instead of this problem there is a “cross talk echo” caused by portions of sound, which, coming from the transmitting crystal, are reflected at the interface probe/test specimen and reach the receiving crystal.mIDTH Institute” The International Maintenance Seminar As a rule, these cross talk echoes are very small, and have hardly any adverse effect on the detectability of discontinuities which lie just under the surface. An operator without very much experience is, however, able to interpret the “cross talk echo” as a defect. \ A = cross talk acho ( = echo of ciszontinuity Figure 19. Cross tall echo. Where Can We Use Ultrasonic Testing in Maintenance? “The most typical example in maintenance in a cement plant where ultrasonic can be used is at the supporting roller shaft on the kiln.]We test the shaft from both ends with a normal beam probe, as shown belowMIDTH The International Maintenance Seminar Institute” ( Figure 20. Probe mounted on supporting roller shaft and pulses shown. 3. CONCLUSION 7 >) ¢ | Ultrasonic, magnetic particle test and dye penetrant are very useful, but the operator must be | \ highly skilled, especially with ultrasonics. ett == te a J