Contents

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1. Objective:........................................................................................................................2
2. Introduction To Liquid Penetration Testing:...................................................................2
3. Theory:............................................................................................................................2
3.1. Cleaners...................................................................................................................2
3.2. Penetrants.................................................................................................................3
3.3. Developers...............................................................................................................3
4. Procedure:.......................................................................................................................4
Step # 01 (Pre-cleaning):........................................................................................................4
Step # 02 (Application of Penetrant):.................................................................................4
Step # 03 (Excess Penetrant Removal):.............................................................................4
Step # 04 (Application of Developer):...............................................................................5
Step # 05 (Inspection/Evaluation):.....................................................................................5
5. Observations & Conclusion:..............................................................................................5
5.1. Observations:...........................................................................................................5
5.2. Findings:..................................................................................................................7
5.3. Discussion:...............................................................................................................7
5.4. Conclusion:..............................................................................................................8
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1. Objective:
To perform Liquid Die Penetration Testing of a welded joint to detect surface
cracks/defects.
2. Introduction To Liquid Penetration Testing:
 Penetrant Testing, or PT, is a nondestructive testing method that builds on the
principle of Visual Inspection.
 Penetrant testing (PT) is one of the most widely used nondestructive testing methods
for the detection of surface discontinuities in nonporous solid materials.
 PT increases the “seeability” of small discontinuities that the human eye might not be
able to detect alone.
 PT is extremely portable.
 PT works for Magnetic and non-magnetic materials.

3. Theory:
 In penetrant testing, a liquid with high surface wetting
characteristics is applied to the surface of a component under test.
 The penetrant “penetrates” into surface breaking discontinuities
via capillary action.
 Excess penetrant is removed from the surface and a developer is
applied to pull trapped penetrant back the surface.
 With good inspection technique, visual indications of any discontinuities present
become apparent.
Following materials are required for PT:

3.1. Cleaners
 Thorough cleaning is essential if the examination results are to be reliable
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 Openings must be free from contaminants such as oil and water, oxides of any
kind, paint or other foreign material which can greatly reduce the penetrant
sensitivity.
Typical cleaners include the following.
 Solvents
 Ultrasonic Cleaning
 Alkaline cleaning (specially selected detergents that are capable of
removing various types of contamination)
 Steam Cleaning
 Water and detergent cleaning
 Chemical cleaning (etchants, acids, or alkaline baths)

3.2. Penetrants
Penetrants are formulated to possess a number of important characteristics. To
perform well, a penetrant must:
 Spread easily over the surface being inspected (wettability).
 Be drawn into surface breaking defects by capillary action or other
mechanisms (penetration ability)
 Remain in the defect but remove easily from the surface of the part
(washability)
 Remain fluid through the drying and developing steps so it can be drawn back
to the surface (drying characteristics)
 Be highly visible or fluoresce brightly to produce easy to see indications
(visibility)
 Not be harmful to the inspector or to the material being tested. (safe)
 be highly stable against moderate temperature and humidity (stability)
 Be able to drain away from the component well while avoiding dragging out
from defects (fluidity/ viscosity.)
 Exhibit no chemical reaction between the penetrant materials and the test
specimen (chemically inert)

3.3. Developers
Developers shall possess following properties in order to bleed out the penetrants out
of the defects;
 Be able to uniformly cover the surface with a thin, smooth coating
 Have good absorption characteristics to promote the maximum blotting of the
penetrant that is entrapped in discontinuities
 Be non-fluorescent if used with fluorescent penetrants
 Provide a good contrast background that will result in an acceptable contrast
ratio
 Be easily applied to the test specimen
 Be inert with respect to the test materials
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 Be nontoxic and compatible with the penetrant materials

 Be easy to remove from the test specimen after the examination is complete.

4. Procedure:
Step # 01 (Pre-cleaning):
 Parts must be free of dirt, rust, scale, oil, grease, etc. to perform a reliable
inspection.
 The cleaning process must remove contaminants from the surfaces of the part and
defects, and must not plug any of the defect.
Step # 02 (Application of Penetrant):
 In the next step penetrant is applied via spray. Penetrant can be also applied in
various ways such as:

1. Spraying (Used here)

2. Brushing
3. Dipping
4. Immersing
5. Flow-on

 The penetrant solution must be allowed to “dwell”

on the surface of the part to allow the penetrant
time to fill any defects present. Here the dwell
time is taken to be 20 minutes.
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Step # 03 (Excess Penetrant Removal):

The excess penetrant must be removed from part. The part is wiped with a clean dry
cloth to remove the bulk of the excess penetrant only in one direction.
Step # 04 (Application of Developer):
Developer is applied by an aerosol spray to a thoroughly
dried and cooled part. A thin even coating should be
applied.

Step # 05 (Inspection/Evaluation):
 In this step the inspector evaluates the penetrant indications against specified
accept/reject criteria and attempts to determine the origin of the indication.
 The indications are judged to be either relevant, non-relevant or false.

5. Observations & Conclusion:

5.1. Observations:
5.1.1. Part observed after pre-cleaning
The part is cleaned to remove to remove dirt, rust, scale, oil, grease, etc. to
perform a reliable inspection via cleaning spray and a piece of cloth. The part
after pre-cleaning is shown below:

5.1.2. Part observed after the application of penetrant

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In the next step penetrant (red dye) is applied via spray can. The penetrant
solution is allowed to “dwell” on the surface of the part to fill any defects
present. Here the dwell time is taken to be 20 minutes. The part after the
application of penetrant is shown below:

5.1.3. Part observed after the removal of excess penetrant

The part is wiped with a clean dry cloth to remove the bulk of the excess
penetrant only in one direction.
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5.1.4. Part observed after the application of developer

Developer is applied via an aerosol can. The developer will assist in in blotting
the penetrant out of the defect, if present.

5.1.5. Defects visible observed after the

application of developer
It is observed that the penetrant has
blotted out from some points.
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5.2. Findings:
It has been observed that the penetrant has blotted out after the application of developer
indicating that there are some crack/defects present in the weld.
5.3. Discussion:
Above observations reflect that the Liquid Penetration Die Testing method is suitable
to detect surface discontinuities such as cracks, laps, folds, cold shut etc.
Apart from the welding defects this method can also be used to evaluate surface
discontinuities occurring during manufacturing operations and also those which occur
during processing.
5.4. Conclusion:
It can be seen that the penetrant has blotted out from a complete section of the weld
indicating the poor quality of the weld and the defected regions. Therefore, the
welding process should be done again to ensure that the part is free from defects and
can perform the intended operation.
After welding again the same procedure, Liquid Die Penetration Testing, To evaluate
the weld till it conforms to the requirements.