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Inspection Methods
Inspection Methods
CHAPTER
Inspection Methods
Overview and
Comparison
INSPECTION is an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering, inspection involves the measurements, tests, and
gages applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity.
The results are usually compared to specified requirements and standards
for determining whether the item or activity is in line with these targets.
Some inspection methods are destructive; however, inspections are usually nondestructive.
Nondestructive examination (NDE), or nondestructive testing (NDT),
are a number of technologies used to analyze materials for either inherent
flaws (such as fractures or cracks), or damage from use. Some common
methods are visual, microscopy, liquid or dye penetrant inspection, magnetic particle inspection, eddy current testing, x-ray or radiographic testing, and ultrasonic testing. This chapter provides an overview of the inspection methods that will be covered in the remainder of this book.
Visual Inspection
Visual inspection provides a means of detecting and examining a variety of surface flaws, such as corrosion, contamination, surface finish, and
surface discontinuities on joints (for example, welds, seals, and solder
connections). Visual inspection is also the most widely used method for
detecting and examining surface cracks that are particularly important because of their relationship to structural failure mechanisms. Even when
other inspection techniques are used to detect surface cracks, visual inspection often provides a useful supplement. For example, when the eddy
Fig. 1
F low lines in closed die forged UNS G41400 steering knuckle revealed
by cold deep acid etching with 10% aqueous HNO3 (0.5) and enhanced with inking. Source: Ref 1
Fig. 2
E xample of height and thickness measurements with coordinate measuring machine (CMM) probe
terized by their flexibility, being able to make many measurements without adding or changing tools.
Historically, traditional measuring devices and CMMs have been
largely used to collect inspection data on which to make the decision to
accept or reject parts. Although CMMs continue to play this role, manufacturers are placing new emphasis on using CMMs to capture data from
many sources and bringing them together centrally where they can be
used to control the manufacturing process more effectively and preventing
defective components from being produced. In addition, CMMs are also
being used in entirely new applications; for example, reverse engineering
and computer-aided design and manufacture (CAD/CAM) applications as
well as innovative approaches to manufacturing, such as the flexible manufacturing systems, manufacturing cells, machining centers, and flexible
transfer lines.
Machine Vision
Machine vision emerged as an important new technique for industrial
inspection and quality control in the early 1980s. When properly applied,
machine vision can provide accurate and inexpensive inspection of workpieces, thus dramatically increasing product quality. Machine vision is
also used as an in-process gaging tool for controlling the process and correcting trends that could lead to the production of defective parts. The
automotive and electronics industries make heavy use of machine vision
for automated high volume, labor intensive and repetitive inspection
operations.
This ability to acquire an image, analyze it, and then make an appro
priate decision is extremely useful in inspection and quality control applications. It enables machine vision to be used for a variety of functions,
including: identification of shapes, measurement of distances and ranges,
gaging of sizes and dimensions, determining orientation of parts, quantifying
motion, and detecting surface shading. Several examples of machine vision
applications are shown in Fig. 3. These capabilities allow users to employ
machine vision systems for cost-effective and reliable 100% inspection of
workpieces.
Fig. 3
E xamples of machine vision applications. (a) Measuring fit and gap of automotive fender. Courtesy
of Diffracto Limited. (b) Reading box labels in sorting application. Courtesy of Cognex Corporation.
(c) Reading part numbers on silicon wafers. Courtesy of Cognex Corporation. (d) Vision system for arc welding.
Courtesy of Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. Source: Ref 2
Hardness Testing
Hardness testing is one of the simplest and most widely used inspection
methods. It is a nondestructive method that can be used to predict the
strength of metals. The correlation between tensile strength and hardness
for steels, brass, and nodular cast iron are shown in Fig. 4. All heat treated
steels are subjected to hardness testing to verify that the heat treatment
produced the correct hardness and thus strength.
The most common types of hardness tests are indentation methods.
These tests use a variety of indentation loads ranging from 1 gf (microindentation) to 3000 kgf (Brinell). Low and high powered microscopes (Brinell, Vickers, and microindentation) are used to measure the resulting indentation diagonals from which a hardness number is calculated using a
formula. In the Rockwell test, the depth of indentation is measured and
converted to a hardness number, which is inversely related to the depth.
A general comparison of indentation hardness testing methods is given
in Table 1. Generally, the scale to use for a specified material is indicated
on the engineering design drawings or in the test specifications. However,
at times the scale must be determined and selected to suit a given set of
circumstances.
Hardness testing has many applications in quality control, materials
evaluation, and the prediction of properties. Because hardness testing is
nondestructive and quick, it is a very useful tool for manufacturing and
process control. For example, the most common application of the Rockwell test is testing steels that have been hardened and tempered. If a hard-
Fig. 4
Indenter(s)
Ball indenter, 10
mm (0.4 in.) or
2.5 mm (0.1 in.)
in diameter
17 mm (0.04
0.28 in.)
Depth
Load(s)
136 diamond
pyramid
Ultrasonic
Source: Ref 4
Microhardness
Rockwell
Applications
800 gf
1 gf1 kgf
Machined surface,
ground
As for Rockwell
Critical surfaces of
finished parts
Remarks
Damage to specimen
minimized by use of
lightly loaded ball indenter. Indent then
less than Rockwell
As for Rockwell
Indent
(0.0040.06
1.613 mm (116
to in.) diam
in.)
ball
As for Rockwell
0.10.7 mm
10110 m (0.04 Major 1545 kgf
Rockwell
superficial
(0.0040.03
0.43 in.)
Minor 3 kgf
in.)
Measure diago- 300100 m (0.12 1120 kgf
Vickers
136 diamond
pyramid
nal, not diame0.4 in.)
ter
Brinell
Test
Diagonal or
diameter
The minimum material thickness for a test is usually taken to be 10 times the indentation depth.
Tensile Testing
The tensile test is the most common test used to evaluate the mechanical properties of materials. Tensile testing is normally conducted by the
material producer and the results are supplied to the user as part of the
material certification sheet. Since the tensile test is a destructive test, it is
not performed directly on the supplied material. For wrought materials,
the test specimens are taken from the same heat or lot of material that is
supplied. In the case of castings, separate test bars are cast at the same
time as the part casting and from the same material used to pour the part
casting. Although the tensile test is not normally conducted by the user of
the metal product, it is important for the user to understand the test and its
results.
Unless the material specification requires an elevated temperature test,
the tensile test is normally conducted at room temperature. Typical values
reported on the material certification include the yield strength, the ultimate tensile strength, and the percent elongation. Since the modulus of
elasticity is a structure insensitive property and not affected by processing, it is generally not required. The main advantages of the tensile test
are, the stress state is well established, the test has been carefully standardized, and the test is relatively easy and inexpensive to perform.
The tensile properties of a material are determined by applying a tension load to a specimen and measuring the elongation or extension in a
load frame such as the one shown in Fig. 5. The load can be converted to
engineering stress s by dividing the load by the original cross-sectional
area of the specimen. The engineering strain (e) can be calculated by dividing the change in gage length by the original gage length.
A typical stress-strain curve for a metal is shown in Fig. 6. The shape
and magnitude of the stress-strain curve of a metal depends on its composition, heat treatment, prior history of plastic deformation, and the strain
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
rate, temperature, and state of stress imposed during the testing. The parameters used to describe the stress-strain curve of a metal are, the tensile
strength, yield strength or yield point, percent elongation, and reduction in
area. The first two are strength parameters and the last two are indications
of ductility.
The yield strength (YS) is the stress required to produce a small specified amount of plastic deformation. The usual definition of this property is
the offset yield strength determined by the stress corresponding to the intersection of the stress-strain curve offset by a specified strain. For metals
without a definite yield point, the yield strength is determined by drawing
a straight line parallel to the initial straight line portion of the stress-strain
curve. The line is normally offset by a strain of 0.2% (0.002).
As shown in Fig. 6, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) is the maximum
stress that occurs during the test. Although the tensile strength is the value
most often listed from the results of tensile testing, it is not generally the
value that is used in design. Static design of ductile metals is usually based
on the yield strength, since most designs do not allow any plastic deformation. However, for brittle metals that do not display any appreciable
plastic deformation, tensile strength is a valid design criterion.
Measures of ductility that are obtained from the tension test are the engineering strain at fracture (ef) and the reduction of area at fracture (q).
Both are usually expressed as percentages, with the engineering strain at
failure often reported as the percent elongation.
Chemical Analysis
The overall chemical composition of metals and alloys is most commonly determined by x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and optical emission
spectroscopy (OES). While these methods work well for most elements,
they are not useful for dissolved gases and some nonmetallic elements that
can be present in metals as alloying or impurity elements. High temperature combustion and inert gas fusion methods are typically used to analyze
for dissolved gases (oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen) and, in some cases, carbon and sulfur in metals.
A number of methods can be used to obtain information about the
chemistry of the first one to several atomic layers of samples of metals, as
well as of other materials, such as semiconductors and various types of
thin films. Of these methods, the scanning Auger microprobe (SAM) is the
most widely used.
Metallography
Metallography is the scientific discipline of examining and determining
the constitution and the underlying structure of the constituents in metals
and alloys. The objective of metallography is to accurately reveal material
structure at the surface of a sample and/or from a cross-section specimen.
For example, cross-sections cut from a component or sample may be macroscopically examined by light illumination in order to reveal various important macrostructural features (on the order of 1 mm to 1 m or 0.04 in.
to 3 ft), such as the ones shown in Fig. 7 and listed here:
Flow lines in wrought products
Solidification structures in cast products
Weld characteristics, including depth of penetration, fusion zone size
and number of passes, size of heat affected zone, and type and density
of weld imperfections
Fig. 7
E xamples of uses for metallography. (a) Equiaxed ferrite grain size in plain carbon steel. (b) Ion
carburized gear tooth showing case depth. (c) Microstructure of galvanized coating on steel,
thickness and quality. (d) Multipass weld quality in type 304 stainless steel plate. Source: Ref 5, 6, and 7.
This listing of macrostructural features in the characterization of metals, though incomplete, represents the wide variety of features that can be
evaluated by light macroscopy.
Nondestructive Testing
Nondestructive testing (NDT) and inspection techniques are commonly
used to detect and evaluate flaws (irregularities or discontinuities) or leaks
in engineering systems. Of the many different NDT techniques used in
industry, liquid penetrant and magnetic particle testing account for about
one-half of all NDT, ultrasonics and x-ray methods about another third,
eddy current testing about 10%, and all other methods for only about 2%.
It should be noted that the techniques reviewed in this book are by no
means all of the NDT techniques utilized. However, they do represent the
most commonly employed methods. A simplified breakdown of the complexity and relative requirements of the five most frequently used NDT
techniques is shown in Table 2, and the common NDT methods are comTable 2 The relative uses and merits of various nondestructive testing methods
Test method
Ultrasonics
X-ray
Eddy current
Capital cost
Consumable cost
Time of results
Effect of geometry
Medium to high
Very low
Immediate
Important
High
High
Delayed
Important
Low to medium
Low
Immediate
Important
Access problems
Type of defect
Relative sensitivity
Formal record
Operator skill
Operator training
Training needs
Portability of equipment
Dependent on material
composition
Ability to automate
Capabilities
Important
Internal
High
Expensive
High
Important
High
High
Very
Important
Most
Medium
Standard
High
Important
High
Low
Quite
Important
External
High
Expensive
Medium
Important
Medium
High to medium
Very
Source: Ref 8
Good
Fair
Thickness gaging: Thickness
some composigaging
tion testing
Medium
Medium
Short delay
Not too important
Important
External
Low
Unusual
Low
Important
Low
High to medium
Magnetic only
Good
Fair
Thickness gaging; Defects only
grade sorting
Low
Medium
Short delay
Not too important
Important
Surface breaking
Low
Unusual
Low
Low
High
Little
Fair
Defects only
pared in Table 3. Detailed information on the various types of NDT methods can be obtained from the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (Columbus, Ohio), Nondestructive Testing, Volume 03.03, published
annually by ASTM (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and in Nondestructive
Evaluation and Quality Control, Volume 17, ASM Handbook.
The terms nondestructive testing (NDT), and nondestructive inspection, (NDI), are considered synonymous. They both refer to a process or
procedure, such as ultrasonic or radiographic inspection, for determining
the quality or characteristics of a material, part, or assembly, without permanently altering the subject or its properties. All NDT or NDI methods
are used to find internal anomalies or flaws in a structure without degrading its properties or impairing its serviceability. The term flaw is a general
term that is used to imply any irregularity, imperfection, or discontinuity
contained in a material, part, or assembly. A flaw that has been evaluated
as rejectionable is usually termed a defect. The quantitative analysis of
NDT/NDI findings to determine whether the material, part, or assembly
will be acceptable for its function, despite the presence of flaws, is called
Table 3 Comparison of some nondestructive testing methods
Application
Characteristics detected
Advantages
Limitations
Example of use
Ultrasonics
Changes in acoustic
impedance caused
by cracks, nonbonds, inclusions,
or interfaces
Radiography
Changes in density
from voids, inclusions, material
variations; placement of internal
parts
Visual optical
Eddy current
Liquid penetrant
Magnetic particles
Source: Ref 8
Fig. 8
ead of liquid penetrant formed when, after excess penetrant has been
B
removed from a workpiece surface, the penetrant remaining in a discontinuity emerges to the surface until an equilibrium is established. Source:
Ref 9
Fig. 9
maintenance and overhaul in the transportation industries, plant and machinery maintenance, and, inspection of large components.
Although in-process magnetic particle inspection is used to detect discontinuities and imperfections in material and parts as early as possible in
the sequence of operations, final inspection is required to ensure that rejectable discontinuities and imperfections detrimental to part use and
function have not developed during processing.
Fig. 10
Radiographic Inspection
Three basic elements of radiography include a radiation source, the testpiece or object being evaluated, and a sensing material. These elements
are shown schematically in Fig. 11. Radiography is based on differential
absorption of penetrating radiationeither electromagnetic radiation of
very short wavelength or particulate radiationby the part or test piece
(object) being inspected. Because of differences in density and variations
in thickness of the part, or differences in absorption characteristics caused
by variations in composition, different portions of a testpiece absorb different amounts of penetrating radiation. Unabsorbed radiation passing
Fig. 11
Ultrasonic Inspection
Ultrasonic inspection is a nondestructive method in which beams of
high frequency acoustic energy are introduced into a material to detect
surface and subsurface flaws, to measure the thickness of the material, and
to measure the distance to a flaw. An ultrasonic beam travels through a
material until it strikes an interface or discontinuity such as a flaw. Interfaces and flaws interrupt the beam and reflect a portion of the incident
acoustic energy. The amount of energy reflected is a function of (a) the
nature and orientation of the interface or flaw; and, (b) the acoustic impedance of such a reflector. Energy reflected from various interfaces and flaws
can be used to define the presence and locations of flaws, the thickness of
the material, and the depth of a flaw beneath a surface. Pulse echo and
through transmission, two types of ultrasonic inspection, are illustrated in
Fig. 12.
Fig. 12