Non-destructive evaluation of powder metallurgy parts

In the ceramics industry, the fraction of the finished part cost which arises from scrap due to flaws introduced
during processing is estimated to average 50%, and can be as high as 75%. While the ceramics industry has been
mobilized for the past 15 years towards use of nondestructive evaluation in processing, the P/M industry has so far
built up only a scattered background of experience. The problem of forming defects in green parts during
compaction and ejection has become more prevalent as parts producers have started to use higher compaction
pressures in an effort to achieve high density, high performance P/M steels.
• Several nondestructive inspection methods are being used to ensure product quality and are here evaluated,
with the aim of identifying those, which are practical for detecting defects as early in the production sequence
as possible.
• The most promising NDT methods for P/M applications include
• electrical resistivity testing,
• eddy current,
• magnetic bridge testing,
• magnetic particle inspection,
• ultrasonic testing,
• X-ray radiography,
• gas permeability testing, and
• gamma ray density determination.
Need and incentive for NDT
NDT is instrumental in achieving a holistic quality control regime not only for an efficient production
environment but also for more reliable performance of PM parts in various applications. Inspection and
structural health monitoring should be two important elements of what would be an ideal life management
scenario for end users and part suppliers, which would no doubt increase confidence in PM and also open
up new applications for the manufacturing industry.
The proposed concept is a new approach to the problem of performing 100% inspection of PM
components and will require significant research effort beyond current industrial knowledge.
Hence, the research and development output will be a significant improvement beyond the state-
of-the-art. This will entail:
(1) an advanced X-ray source generator and collimator including excitation driving electronics
and control software, preferably to allow multiplanar component inspection without having to move
the PM component;
(2) high resolution miniature X-ray detection technology for fast capture of images and acquisition
software;
(3) software-driven automated defects detection in PM component radiographs and image
processing algorithms ; and
(4) component feeding and manipulator mechanics.
Sintered components typically suffer from porosity (hence density variations), cracks and impurities that may be
present. Such defects negatively affect the mechanical properties of the part and hence their performance. As they
are produced in their thousands in a production environment, if the defected parts and the cause(s) are not
determined at an early stage, the whole production output can be rejected, if considered unsuitable for the
intended application. There is an increasing push in industry (e.g. automotive) for fuel economy that will create
weight savings targets which require higher performance requirements and better materials/alloys for sintered
parts.PM parts will need to be as defect free as possible for improved integrity to meet such requirements, which
advanced NDT will enable. The need for defect-free manufacturing across the industry has motivated
manufacturers to seek reliable cost effective inspection methods for eliminating the defect output in production.4
On-line automated non-destructive inspection can offer the solution required. However the inspection method
should have ideally:
• high inspection speed (a few seconds)
• high accuracy (micrometre–mm range)
• high throughput (100 mm min–1).
Traditional NDT techniques focus on detecting and diagnosing defects. They are based on visual techniques or
imaging to scan for any indication of defects. Scanning methods include magnetic particle testing (MT),
ultrasonic testing (UT), eddy current/electromagnetic testing (ET), dye penetrant testing (PT) and X-
ray/radiographic testing (RT).
These methods often are manual and require subjective interpretation by an operator. Although
diagnosing and/or imaging specific defects are applicable when evaluating an individual part or
system, they are not appropriate for high-volume, 100% manufactured part inspection. In these cases,
it is of primary importance to detect whether a part is non-conforming, rather than why, which can be
addressed separately off line. Identifying the type of defect itself is secondary to identifying the
nonconforming parts. Therefore, an end-of-line ‘go/no go’ objective inspection is preferred over that of
a slower subjective diagnosis.

The possible techniques that can be automated for inspection of PM parts include:
automated ultrasonic testing (UT)
on-line resonance inspection
automated optical inspection
 current off-line X-ray inspection

However, each of the techniques presented have characteristics and limitations

Ultrasonic inspection technique
Ultrasonic testing (UT) is an NDT test technique that interrogates components and structures to detect internal and
surface breaking defects and measures wall thickness on hard (typically metallic or ceramic) components and
structures. In UT, the maximum flaw size that can be detected is typically 1 mm but this will require a high
frequency greater than 10 MHz. This will require full contact with the specimen and in some cases full immersion
in liquid medium. In immersion testing, real-time inspection of PM parts is not possible as the inspected items
must be water resistant, when using water-based couplants that do not contain rust inhibitors. It is also difficult to
use the immersion technique for real-time inspection of PM parts as residue left behind from the water will
degrade the final quality of the sintered part. Additionally, the acquisition time is in minutes or hours (depending
on resolution) as the UT probe must be scanned over the component surface.
An alternative method for inspecting these parts is to use ultrasonic electromagnetic acoustic transducers
(eMATs). However this technique relies upon point contact with a part to induce and receive Rayleigh surface
waves which are sensitive to surface breaking cracks and density variations. The transducers can be shaped to
inspect both flat and curved geometries effectively such as boreholes. Feasibility studies performed on both green
and sintered parts have been successful in penetrating ultrasonic energy into the parts for defect detection. Owing
to the low aspect ratio of many powder metal parts, ultrasonic guided waves can provide full part
characterisation. Shear horizontal waves were used to inspect the flange of a transmission part and torsional
waves have been used to inspect the welded region of a sintered porous filter. It would also be of interest to
explore HIP parts.
The surface wave technique is an efficient way to detect defects in PM parts with different
geometries including multilevel parts. The eMATs can be shaped to fit specific part geometries, such
as the rounded profiles which fit boreholes. EMATs also can provide global inspection of sintered
porous media and green parts. Weld uniformity and weld quality of the sintered porous media can be
obtained by signal analysis. Although there are lots of benefits of using the UT technique, it is still
difficult to deploy the technology in the production line. The parts can be rough, inhomogeneous and
irregular in shape, very small or thin, owing to the versatile nature of net-shape processing and so can
be complex to inspect. In these cases, different shapes of probes are required to compensate for any
variation in PM part types. For post production this can be costly and tedious when it comes to
maintenance and repair. In addition, the detectability and sensitivity of flaws also depend on the
orientation of the cracks, because the beam has directional properties. Therefore the response will be
sensitive to orientation of the suspect features (e.g. cracks, secondary phases, inhomogeneities).
On-line resonant technique
The resonant acoustic method (RAM) is a ‘full part’ inspection technique for detecting flaws on a component level. The
inspection spectrum includes materials ranging from ductile iron to powder metal to ceramics, and part sizes ranging from
less than an ounce up to 50 lb (23 kg). The technique is regarded as easily automated to eliminate human error, with fast
throughput providing cost-effective inspection with minimal disruption to production. The non-destructive testing on-line
resonant method (ORM) is considered to be the only possible in-line inspection on production lines for PM and cast parts.
The measurements are based upon the resonant frequency of a structure which is a function of part geometry and material
properties (such as Young’s modulus), and are therefore defined by the nature and characteristics of the materials (such as
stiffness and microstructure). The resonant frequency of material (single or dual phase) can be obtained by impedance
measurements and visually using laser scanning vibrometry. The ORM systems detect frequency shifts that can be caused by
imperfections such as cracks, porosity and voids, as well as variances in the morphology of reinforcements or phases in a
matrix, for example nodular graphite (in ductile cast irons), dimensions, geometry, weight, density and manufacturing
processes.
After defective parts have been sorted by ORM, complementary visual or imaging NDT techniques may be required to
diagnose and identify the defect on the smaller subset of parts. This is useful in determining the root cause of a defect and
ultimately improving the product design or production process. This can, however, be very time consuming (usually several
hours, e.g. from a minimum of 1–2 h up to 8 h and more depending on the criticality of the application) for analysis. Neither
ORM nor uT can provide a visual three dimensional (3D) picture of the part in order to simplify the defect detection process.
For ORM, the data is recorded as frequency values which have to be correlated to a particular feature. Hence it requires
significant interpretation, which can be different, depending on the individual, time-consuming and monotonous. Therefore
the consistency of the output and its meaning can be variable and lead to more reject errors.
Automated optical inspection
The NDT method most commonly used for in-line (production and assembly) applications is automated optical
inspection (AOI) but this relies upon sight vision, is only effective for the detection of surface flaws and is
challenged by more complex designs. The technique is also influenced by the surface finishes and profiles
found on lead-free joints. In summary it can be said that optical inspection can only inspect the outer surfaces
of optical objects.
Use of X-rays
DR systems are well developed in the medical and dentistry markets and have been for several years. The
smaller industrial inspection radiographic market is dominated by the use of conventional radiographic film,
currently estimated to be over 90% of the market place. However, digital X-ray systems are more efficient
than X-ray film and, as a result, exposure time is reduced (resulting in a faster inspection). Also digital
radiography can be conducted in enclosed lead shield cabinets and is therefore safer for operators. Although
industrial DR systems are available, their take up has been limited to a few specialist inspection applications.
Indeed, DR systems are commercially available for quality analysis of components and are commonly used
for manual inspection of single components. However, currently almost all X-ray technology is conducted off
line.
The main reason for performing off-line measurements as opposed to during production are:
(1) traditional radiography inspection is too slow and relies on manual manipulation for appropriate
interaction between X-rays and different planes of the part in terms of orientation to capture any
flaws that may be present;
(2) common DR equipment is typically unsuitable for use for in-line inspection as only inspection of
single placed components is possible and requires an operator to perform the loading and component
sorting;
(3) additionally, the equipment is often designed to be general purpose allowing different sized
samples and materials to be inspected. This requires higher energy rated sources and energy rated
detectors typically in the range 160–450kV. One issue with high kV is that it requires extra X-ray
shielding.
These factors naturally lead to large equipment size and increased cost which prohibits the adoption
of X-ray inspection by industry. The total off- line measurement process, including the image
processing time, mechanical manipulation of the component and image interpretation and sentencing
can be carried out in a few minutes at best. However this can still equate to significant efficiency
losses to the industry of the order of 7100 000 per inspection in lost production time.