Metallurgical & Material Engineering UET,LHR 1

Dye penetration testing

1. Introduction:
Non-destructive testing (NDT) is the process of inspecting and testing of materials for
discontinuities, or differences in characteristics without destroying the serviceability of
the part or system. NDT is used to ensure the quality of materials and joining processes
during the fabrication. Following are the main non-destructive test that are being used in
service for the detection of flaws in any component.

 Radiography testing
 Ultrasonic testing
 Magnetic particles testing
 Dye penetrating testing
 Eddy current testing

1.1. Dye penetrating testing:

Dye penetrating testing is non-destructive testing technique also known as liquid
penetrate inspection (LPI) is a cost-effective method used to locate surface breaking
flaws such as cracks, porosity and other surface discontinuities. Dye penetrante
inspection can be applied to both ferrous and non-ferrous materials and all non-porous
materials (metals, plastics or ceramics). It is commonly used to detect defects in forged
and welded parts. [1]

Figure #1: Dye penetrating testing

1.2. Principle of dye penetrates testing:

Dye penetrate testing is worked on the basis of principle that the liquid penetrante is
drawn into the surface-breaking crack by capillary action and excess surface
penentrate is then removed a developer is then applied to the surface, to draw out the
penetrante in the crack and produce a surface indication.
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Dye penetration testing

1.3. Inspection steps:

Following are the main inspections steps:
 Pre-cleaning:
This step includes cleaning of test surface to remove any dirt, paint, oil, grease. The
end goal of this step is a clean surface where any defects present are open to the
surface, dry, and free of contamination.
 Application of penetrate:
Penetrante will be applied to the surface of the item being tested. The penetrant is allowed
to soak into any flaws generally 5 to 30 minutes which is called as dwell time. This dwell
time mainly depends upon the penetrant being used, material being tested and the size of
flaws sought [2]
 Excess Penetrant Removal:
In this step the excess penetrant will be removed from the surface. The removal method is
controlled by the type of penetrant used. If excess penetrant is not properly removed, once
the developer is applied, it may leave a background in the developed area that can mask
indications or defects.

 Application of Developer:
After the removal of excess penetrant, a white developer will be applied to the sample.
Several developer types are available, including: nonaqueous wet developer, dry powder,
water-suspend able, and water-soluble.
 Inspection:
In this step, the inspector will use visible light with adequate intensity for visible dye
penetrant. Inspection of the test surface should take place after 10 to 30-minute
development time, depends on the kind of product.

Figure #2: Dye penetrating inspection

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Dye penetration testing

2. Experimental work:
2.1. Materials:

 Penetrant
 Non-pours material
 Cleaner
2.2. Procedure:
There are following step involved in this experiment.
 Cleaning of sample surface was done by using cleaner.
 Penetrant was sprayed on the surface of the sample
 10-15 minutes was penetrant application time.
 Excessive of penetrant was removed by using cleaner.
 Application of developer, developer sucks the penetrant to the surface to locate flaws.
 Post cleaning was done by using cleaner.
 Inspection was done visually and it was observed that crack appeared around the
bulged portion but it was no too clear.

3. Limitations:
Following are limitations of DPT.

 It only detects the surface defects.

 Test cannot be performed on the hot assemblies.
 High level of cleanliness is needed to perfume this.
 Surface roughness causes decrease in sensitivity of the test.
 Deformed surfaces and surface coatings prevent detection.

4. Precautions:
Following are the main important precautions that are required for the inspection lab.

 Sample should be clean and flat.

 Do not use any machine in the lab without instructions.
 Be careful about the quality of material which is use for performing test.
 Wear safety shoes and gloves in inspection lab to avoid any injury.
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Dye penetration testing

5. Discussion:
Dye penetrating test is used to identify surface defects like pin holes, blow holes and
porosity, etc. In this experiment, liquid penetrant is used which is non-reactive because it will
not react with sample, not change its microstructure. Both fluorescent and red dyes used to
allow surface defects of a given material to be more easily seen by the inspector. First
cleansing of the sample is done in order to remove grease, dust, etc. for defects detection.
After that, penetrant penetrate into discontinuities through capillary action. The penetrant
solution must be allowed to “dwell” on the surface of the part to allow the penetrant time to
fill any defects present. While from surface, excess penetrant is removed. A developer is
applied to pull trapped penetrant back the surface forms an indication, commonly known as
bleed-out or reverse capillary action. White color developer is used as color contrast is
produced when developer mixed with dye present in discontinuity, color contrast is produced.
With his color contrast, defect will easily identified.

Filling in cracked area and penetration depends on viscosity of penetrant. If viscosity of

penetrant is high then it will not penetrates into small width cracks. Therefore, filling in
cracked area and penetration is less. If we want to increase the sensitivity of dye penetrating
test, low viscosity penetrant is used. The higher the sensitivity level, the smaller the defect
that the penetrant system is capable of detecting.

6. Conclusion:
Defect indication has high visual contrast. It locates surface breaking defects.

7. References:
http://www.intertek.com/non-destructive-testing/dye-penetrant-inspection/[1]

https://sites.google.com/site/gobanengineeringnotes/materials-testing/non-destructive-
testing/dye-penetrant[2]