Ultrasonic Testing

Topics to be covered
Fundaments of ultrasonic Basic equipments Types of ultrasonic waves Types of testing Calibration of UT equipments UT of welds Defect location Disadvantage of UT

WHAT IS ULTRASONIC WAVE?

It is a sound waves.

Frequency more than 20,000Hertz

Which cannot be heard by human ear.

BASIC APPLICATIONS OF ULTRASONICS

Ultrasonic is used to test welds, forgings, castings, sheet, tubing, plastics and ceramics. Ultrasonic has as advantage of detecting volumetric discontinuities Access to only one side of the specimen. Angular & planar discontinuities can be detected. Depth and width of discontinuity can be located.

TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION

Technician and supervisor be qualified in the ultrasonic method before the technique is used and test result evaluated. The AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING recommends the use of their document " RECOMMENDED PRACTICE NO. SNT -TC-1A". There are three levels of certification for NDT personal LEVEL I, II, III.

ULTRASONIC PRINCIPLES

In ultrasonic testing we use something called "ULTRASONIC VIBRATIONS". The structure of a material is actually many particles or groups of atoms. Vibration propagate through particle displacement in the material. This ultrasonic vibrations are sound waves, they can travel in metal as well as in air and water. By Ultrasonic testing we can determine material soundness, thickness or some physical property.

Ultrasonic Basic Principle

Piezo-electric Effect

ULTRASONIC EQUIPMENT

The ultrasonic pulse echo instrument generates high voltage electrical pulses of short duration. These pulses are applied to the transducers which converts them into mechanical vibrations that are applied to the material being inspected. Sound waves are reflected from the front surface & back surface of material to the transducer. Some waves are reflected back from discontinuities. The sound reflected back to the transducer is converted back to electrical pulses, which are amplified and displayed on the CRT as vertical pulses.

Ultrasonic System

A- Scan display

It displays time taken versus amplitude of waves

It is read from left to right

A-Scan Presentation

TYPES OF ULTRASONIC WAVES

Ultrasonic vibrations travel in many modes and the most common are Longitudinal waves ( compression waves)

Transverse waves ( shear waves )

Surface waves (Raleigh waves )

Plate waves (Lamb waves)

Longitudinal waves

Transverse wave

Surface waves

Plate waves

TRANSDUCER OR PROBE:

The probe is made of plastic material, with a Piezoelectric crystal mounted on a plastic wedge. The ultrasonic waves are generated when high pulsed electrical energy is applied to the crystal. The crystal converts electrical energy into mechanical vibrations and vice versa.

Normal Beam Probe

TYPES OF TRANSDUCER OR PROBE

TYPES OF TRANSDUCER OR PROBE Classification of probes are based on the nature of ultrasonic waves passing through the material. NORMAL PROBE , ANGLE PROBE & TWIN PROBE .

Normal probe generates longitudinal waves and they travel in a straight path. Angle probe generates transverse waves and it travels at the specified angle in the material.(Angle probes are available in 45, 60, 70) Twin probes contains two crystals mounted on different wedge. One crystal is meant for producing ultrasonic waves and other is meant for receiving the ultrasonic waves.

BASIC TEST METHODS

There are two test methods normally used. Contact testing : The transducer is coupled to the material through a thin layer of couplant. Immersion testing : The material and the probe are immersed in a tank of couplant normally water.

Contact testing

Immersion testing

COUPLANT IN ULTRASONIC TESTING:

The primary purpose of a couplant is to provide a suitable sound path between the probe and test surface Since air is a poor conductor of sound, couplant excludes all air between probe and test surface. Couplant fills in and smoothes out irregularities on the surface of the test part. Couplant aids in the movement of the probe over the surface in contact. Commonly used couplants are crease, oil, glycerin, and paper paste. In all cases the couplant should be thin as possible , if the couplant is excessive it may alter the direction of the sound.

SURFACE PREPARATION
The surface of a test specimen can greatly affect ultrasonic wave propagation. Rough surfaces can cause undesirable effects such as reduction in amplitudes of discontinuities due to distortion of wave directivity The surface should be probably smooth and it should be cleaned prior to testing.

Surface Preparation

CALIBRATION BLOCK
International institute of welding provides two types blocks for calibrating the flaw detector IIW V1& V2 block. This blocks are used for verification of known distances, angular relationship, beam exit point,

Checks transducer resolution.

IIW V1 Calibration block

IIW V2 calibration block

BEAM EXIT POINT CALIBRATION

In contact beam testing the beam exit point of probe must be known to accurately determine the location of discontinuity.

The probe is moved back and forth until the amplitude of wave reaches maximum refer figure.

Beam exit point calibration

VERIFICATION OF BEAM ANGLE

The plastic wedge of the angle beam probe is subjected to wear and tear in normal use This wear can change the beam exit point and angle of the sound beam. So the verification can be done with v2 block refer fig.

Angle probe angle verification

VERIFICATION OF RESOLVING POWER

It is the capacity of equipment to identify reflected ultrasonic waves from close defects.

It can be verified by v1 block refer fig.

Probe resolving power

HOW TO SCALE THE CRT SCREEN ?

It is an A-Scan display It is Time taken v/s Amplitude of received wave.

Horizontally it has 10major division and with 5minor division in each major division.
Vertically it has 5major divisions , it is % of amplitude. Now fix the value for this horizontal divisions. Minimum it should be two times the job thickness.

CRT screen display

ULTRASONIC TESTING OF WELDS

STRAIGHT BEAM METHOD It is done with normal beam probe. Surface should be ground smooth. Lack of fusion, cracks, and IP cannot be easily detected. ANGLE BEAM METHOD

It is done with angle 45, 60, 70 probes. To scan the weld the probe is moved in forward and backward refer fig.

Straight beam testing of welds

Angle beam testing

Angle Beam Weld Inspection

Angle beam inspection of weld

YOU SHOULD KNNOW ABOUT THE FOLLOWING BEAM PATH :
It is path in which beam travels in material It is divided into many legs

Skip distance
SKIP DISTANCE:
It is surface distance of the beam path.

Second leg beam path is know as full skip distance. First leg beam path surface distance is known as half skip distance.

Calculation
Half skip distance = T X tan Full skip distance = 2 X half skip distance Half beam bath = T / cos Full beam path = 2 X half beam path

Where = probe angle. T= job thicknes

Beam path

Defect location
To locate a defect you should know Surface distance of the defect from the probe index point Depth of defect.
SURFACE DISTANCE = Beam path X sin DEPTH = Beam path X cos = probe angle.

Defect location

S.S.NADAR