Corrosion Inspection by Using NDT Methods

NON-DESTRUCTIVE EXAMINATION
Nondestructive testing (NDT) is an examination, test, or evaluation performed on any type of test object without changing or altering that object in any way, in order to determine the absence or presence of conditions or discontinuities that may have an affect on the usefulness or serviceability of that object
(1)

1. Hellier, CJ,: Handbook of Non Destructive Evaluation, McGraw-Hill, New York (2001) 1.1

ASME Sec. V

Liquid Penetrant

Magnetic Particle

Ultrasonic

Radiographic

API 5L : The location of the test equipment in the manufacturer's facility shall be at the discretion of the manufacturer, except that final inspection of weld seams of cold expanded pipe shall be performed after cold expansion

Discontinuities
Defect on a material during working process of raw material or during its service life Discontinuities Inherent wrought cast Processing Service

on ingot on casting on rolling on welding on grinding In service

: porosity, nonmetallic inclusion, pipe : cold crack, hot tear (shrinkage crack), blow hole, porosity : lamination, seams, stringers : crack, porosity, slag inclusion, lack of penetration, lack of fusion, undercut : heat treating crack : fatigue

Object-oriented representation of the probability of detection of a corrosion defect

General Process Steps for the Main NDE Techniques

Liquid Penetrant Test (PT)

extension of visual inspection; detecting surface-breaking flaws, such as cracks, laps and folds, on any non-absorbent material's surface. for surface discontinuities on non porous material liquid penetration (about 5 10 min. dwell time) into open defect on material surface procedure : pre-cleaning (solvent clean/vapour degreas / acid/basic clean / paint removal), drying, penetrant apply (dipping, spraying, flowing or brushing), excess penetrant removal (water washable, post emulsifying), drying after excess penetrant removal, developer apply (wet or dry), final interpretation and post-cleaning application: to detect defect on welding, casting, wrought product

Magnetic Particle
electromagnetic examination that used to locate and estimate the size of defects that are either open to the surface, such as cracks, and delaminations or very near subsurface defects such as gas holes and inclusions. for surface or subsurface discontinuities on ferro-magnetic material typical detectable defect : porosity, crack, laps, incomplete fusion magnetization by electric current induction, AC (for surface discontinuities) or DC (for sub surface discontinuities). Magnetic flux will be occurred on material and flux leakage by testing medium (magnetic particle) indicates defect presence

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Radiographic
widely used for both welding examinations during construction and corrosion/erosion detection after facilities are placed in service This method works based on the differences of radiography film density, made from silver-bromide AgBr. Because of radiation from radioactive rays from x-ray generator or isotope radioactive will make ionization on film layer and developed silver Ag as a permanent shadow, and will make black shadow while processed.

X / rays

Test piece

Film

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ULTRASONIC
Mechanical wave with frequency > 20kHz generated by probe which is worked by changing electrical energy to mechanical energy. Properties of material, e.g, density, homogenity, grain size, hardness, etc, will affect the wave reflection. Based on the reflection, the thickness, defect location and sizes are determined characterizing material thickness, integrity, or other physical properties by means of high-frequency sound waves Accuracies as high as 1 micron or 0.0001 inch usually operate at frequencies between 500 KHz and 100 MHZ using piezoelectric transducers to generate bursts of sound waves when excited by electrical pulses. Lower frequencies for measuring thicker materials A pulse-echo determines the thickness of a structure by accurately measuring the time required for a short ultrasonic pulse generated by a transducer to travel through the thickness of the material, reflect from the back or inside surface, and be returned to the transducer. Time interval is only a few microseconds or less the thickness of the test piece (D): where : D = v.t /2 v = the velocity of sound waves in the material t = the measured round-trip transit time

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ULTRASONIC
performed to take simple thickness readings of material for on stream inspection, perform more sophisticated weld examinations for inherent flaws in the welds

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4 FEATURES IN ULTRASONIC SYSTEM

(1) the ability to provide an image of the interior of a weld, (2) the ability to quantity incomplete root bead penetration, (3) automatic high speed collection of data, and (4) data base management capability.

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Modern Microprocessor-controlled Ultrasonic Gage

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FACTORS AFFECTING PERFORMANCE AND ACCURACY

Calibration Surface Roughness of the Test Piece Coupling Technique Curvature of the Test Piece Acoustic Properties of the Test Material (sound scattering, sound attenuation) Couplants

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THICKNESS MEASUREMENT

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DEFECT DETECTION

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Defect Detection:
Blow hole Crack Inclusion pipe (wrinkle in ingot) lamination (defect on rolling product) de-bonding defect in weld product These defects can be: -Inherent defect -Fabrication defect, or by its application: fatigue, abrasion, corrosion, impact, etc.

(to be continueed ... Oil & Gas Pipeline ILI tools performance standards)
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