15th Asia Pacific Conference for Non-Destructive Testing (APCNDT2017), Singapore.

Application of Digital Radiographic Testing techniques―Experiments on Detection

of Fatigue Crack and Stress Corrosion Cracking

N. Ooka1, R.Nishi †, Y.Narukawa2, M.Takita3 and K. Yokota4

†
Inspection Department / TOSHIBA Power Systems Inspection Services Co., ltd., 8, Shin Sugita-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama,
More info about this article: http://www.ndt.net/?id=22173

Kanagawa, Japan.
†
E-mail: ryoji.nishi@glb.toshiba.co.jp
1
Institute of Technologists
2
FUJIFILM Corporation
3
IHI Inspection & Instrumentation Co., Ltd
4
Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd.

Abstract

There are not so many cases of experiments and validations focused on the applicability of digital
radiography to welding inspection in Japan. Meanwhile, differences between film RT and digital RT
in actual experiments include perceptibility of image quality indicators within the practical range of
material thickness, detectability of flaws in films and Imaging Plates (IP), image quality variation
depending on various combinations of screens and filters, and measurement of flaw sizes. With an
aim to apply digital radiography to welding inspections that require high reliability, observation tests
involving multiple observers to test pieces with fatigue crack and stress corrosion cracking were
conducted. The findings on field application of digital radiography were obtained by a quantitative
review of the resulting data on observation and comparison of digital images and films.

Keywords: radiographic examination, digital radiography, fatigue crack, stress corrosion cracking

1 Introduction

The digital radiography testing (D-RT) method can shorten the time from exposure to observation, D-
RT is now under discussion for its application as a replacement for film radiography. On the other
hand, JIS Z3104 is commonly used and the standard-Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)
is applied in nuclear industry related to use of hole type IQI. However there were few radiography and
inspection examples of the D-RT. With respect to the difference between F-RT and D-RT,
observation tests were conducted by certified non-destructive testing (NDT) personnel. This paper
describes the result of examinations for applying D-RT.

2 Purpose

Experiments were performed by D-RT method based on ISO 17636-2 and evaluated and discussed by
applying JIS Z 3104 and standard of JSME in Japan. The purpose of the experiments was to clarify
the similarity and differences of the radiography by F-RT and D-RT for the following items.

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2.1 IQI identifiability of material thickness

Focusing on the plate thickness, the image quality conditions in the thickness range of JIS and JSME
were examined.

2.2 The improvement of image quality

For conformation of detection for Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) using combinations of screens
which are suitable for improving image quality in D-RT, the effectiveness of each combination was
examined through the practical observations.

2.3 Detectability and identifiability of cracks

The detectability and identifiability of D-RT method for fatigue cracks of the FC-TP and F-12 in
Table 1 were investigated.

2.4 Crack dimension measurement

Results of the dimension measurement of FC-TP and F-12 (fatigue cracks) through D-RT were
compared with OC-003 (implanted cracks) shown in table 1.

3 Experiment conditions

The test pices of flat plate with various thicknesses were radiographed and the results were evaluated
and discriminated based on ISO, JIS, the standard of JSME.

3.1 Test pieces

The test pieces used are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: specification of test pieces

Specifications
Test piece
Thickness Defects
No. Materials*2
(mm) Type Dimension*1 (depth × length × width) Unit: mm
OC-001 C/S 9.0 Surface, open cracks A:4.6×10.5×0.168，B:4.9×11.5×0.271，C:5.1×11.5×0.318
OC-002 C/S 15.5 Surface, open cracks A:3.9×11.0×0.165，B:4.7×10.5×0.174，C:4.8×10.0×0.325
OC-003 C/S 25.1 Surface, open cracks A:7.2×10.0×0.158，B:7.1×11.0×0.172，C:6.0×10.5×0.340
OC-004 C/S 50.2 Surface, open cracks A:7.2×10.0×0.104，B: 6.2×11.0×0.172，C:5.3×11.5×0.239
FC-TP S/S 10 Fatigue cracks Length 17.8 × Width 0.04–0.150
F-12 S/S 25 Fatigue cracks 4.9 ×22.2×0.006
S-4 S/S 35 SCC Length 101 × width 0.086
*1 These were measured as follows. Depth: Evaluated through UT (edge echo method via the phased-array technique). Length: Steel scale
Width: Digital microscope (calibration: 0.025mm wide [for visual tests]).
*2 C/S：carbon steel，S/S：stainless steel

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3.2 Using device

There are five types of combination A, B, C, D and E by X-raysouce and CR-system which were
shown in table 2.
Table 2: Using device

A B C D E
Reader FCR HPX-1 CRX-Flex HPX-1 CRX-Flex
CR Standard High resolution High resolution High resolution Standard High resolution
System IP
130μm 80μm 63μm 80μm 60μm 50μm 80μm 50μm 100μm 80μm 50μm
Source 300EGS MG452 ERESCO γ
Viewer The BAM ISee! Radiographic image analysis software

4 Conditions

4.1 NDT personnel for observation

The observers who participated in the examination were engineers that satisfy with all items below.
(1) Qualifications: In principle, a person certified at Level 2 or higher in radiographic testing by JIS Z
2305. If not, the person shall have three years of experience or more in RT. Eyesight of them shall be
J1 or better.
(2) Experiences: A person who has work experience in the observation of D-RT images and/or other
D-RT images, or who is able to handle the basic operations of PCs. (e.g., resolution setting of a
computer display and the operation of image processing software currently on the market.)
(3) Activity: In principle, a person who has taken part in any aggregated observation or D-RT seminar
held by the Japan Welding Engineering Society.

4 .2 Vision requirement of personnel

The documents and a guide with details on the necessary steps to all the observers were handed out
and given them sufficient information so as to ensure that they got clear on all matters. In addition,
before the observation of D-RT images, the vision acuity of all the personnel was tested with a Jaeger
Chart.

5. Experiment results

5.1 IQI identifiability for material thickness

Test pieces of 9.0mm to 50.2mm in thickness (Table 1) for which images are frequently taken in
actual D-RT were chosen. Image quality was evaluated through each of the conditions under JIS Z

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3104, standard of JSME and ISO 17636. The experiments regarding the identifiability of film and IP
with the conditions of each standard resulted in the following as shown in Table 2.
(1) JIS Z 3104: The wire IQI fulfilled with both image quality A and image quality B within the range
of material thickness from 9mm to 50.2mm in single-wall X-ray radiography. However, the
requirements were satisfied by radiography with a tube voltage not higher than tube voltage -20%, as
recommended in ISO 17636-2, when high-sensitivity IP (130μm) was used to take image quality B.
Furthermore, with 25 mm radiography aimed at improving image quality, adjusting the exposure time
led to an improvement in image quality in both IP read sizes of 130 μm and 63 μm.
(2) Standard of JSME: In case of design standard of S NB-1, the combination recommended tube
voltage defined in ISO17636-2 and high-sensitivity IP achieved the hole-type IQI identifiability
requirements in the range of thickness from 9mm to 50.2mm for the single-wall radiography.
(3) ISO17636-2:2013: The identifiability of duplex-wire IQI as defined in ISO17636-2:2013 was
satisfied Class B requirements with the combination of recommended tube voltage -20% and high-
resolution IP achieved in the range of thickness from 9mm to 25mm. However, the thickness from
35mm to 50.2mm failed to meet Class B requirement. Both films and IP with same image quality
categories in the thickness range between 9mm and 50.2mm was equal to the identifiability ability.

Table 3: Comparison of identifiability in film and CR

Thickness (mm) Using

Source Standard Technique
0 10 20 30 40 50 device
Film
JIS Z 3104
IP A
Film Applicable
X-ray JSME S NB1
IP B
Film C
ISO 17636
IP Class-A only

5.2 Improvement of image quality(S-4 test piece)

The D-RT using γ-ray source for the test pieces with SCC of 35mm in thickness was attempted to
improvement the image quality by the use of screens. As shown in Table 4, the identifiability of the
duplex-wire IQI, detecting cracks, and comparison result with film against the human observation
results was assessed. As the test result in table 4, the best image quality was achieved by using SUS
(0.5mm) to the front.

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Table 4: Comparison of image quality in various screens

Metal screen Radiation condition Observation results

№
F( ㎜ B ㎜ Exposure time (min.) Using dvice Item Score Total
Duplex wire (92°‒ 95°) 58
Duplex wire (2°‒ 5°) 59
1 No No 48 D 131
Detectability of cracks 29
Comparison with film 11
Duplex wire (92°‒ 95°) 62
SUS Duplex wire (2°‒ 5°) 62
2
0.5
No 48 D
Detectability of cracks 31 140
Comparison with film 11
Pb 0.1 Duplex wire (92°‒ 95°) 56
Cu Duplex wire (2°‒ 5°) 58
3 ＋ 51 D 128
0.3 Detectability of cracks 29
Cu 0.3
Comparison with film 11
T he scores of the observation results were determined as follows.
Duplex wire: Number of wire pairs
Detectability of scratches: Clear (5); Detectable (3); Detectable through open trial (1); Undetectable(0)
Comparison with film: Better than film (5); Easier to see than film (3); Equal (1); Worse than film (0)

5.3 Detectability and identifiability of cracks

Based on the results of IP image observation, the detection of the fatigue cracks and SCC given to the
test pieces is summarized in Table 5, where “clear” and “detectable” were classified as “OK”.
“Detected by open trials” and “Not detectable” were classified as “NG,” based by the observation. A
score is assigned to each symbol (result) for weighing the result.
(1) Fatigue crack (FC-TP): In experiment applying the maximum tube voltage -20% as recommended
in ISO17636-2 slightly improved the identifiability. The detection rate was nearly 100%.
(2) Fatigue crack (F-12): Photography was carried out though recommended tube voltage -20% of
240kV, the same as FC-TP, together with highly sharp IP and increased exposure time produced
almost the same identifiability, with the detection rate being 66%. Using high-sensitivity IP together
with increased exposure achieved a similar score for high-precision IP, with the detection rate being
66%. On the other hand, γ-ray radiography provided a detection rate of 0%.
(3)SCC (S-4): Although with an X-ray source, 300kV and 240kV showed the same identifiability
regardless of the tube voltage. For the γ-ray source, there was no significant difference between high-
sensitivity IP and high-resolution IP, with the detection rate of cracks being 100%.

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Table 5: Detection rates of cracks via CR techniques

De tection Total ※
T est pieces T ube voltage (kV) Using device(SNRN)
rate Max. ： 5.0

FC-T P 170 C-50μm(140) 75% 3.0

Fatigue cracks： 10t 136 -20% C-50μm(209) 100% 4.5

De tection Total ※
T est pieces T ube voltage (kV) Using device(SNRN)
rate Max. ： 5.0

300 A-63μm(150) 20% 0.6

240 -20% A-63μm(154) 0% 0.5
240 A-63μm(159) 66% 2.3
F-12 240 A-63μm(201) 66% 2.3
Fatigue cracks： 25t 240 A-130μm 122 16% 1.3
240 A-130μm 137 66% 2.3
192
Ir E-80μm(155) 0% 0.0
192
Ir E-50μm(153) 0% 0.1

De tection Total ※
T est pieces T ube voltage (kV) Using device(SNRN)
rate Max. ： 5.0

300 B-50μm(122) 100% 5.0

S-4 240 B-50μm(121) 100% 5.0
(SCC： 35t) 192
Ir D-60μm(79) 100% 3.7
192
Ir D-100μm(82) 100% 4.0
※:T he total is divided by the effective number of data items.

5.4 Measurement of crack sizes

The dimensional measurement results were analyzed with standard deviation (SD) and mean (RMS).
On the crack length observed was compared the influence degree at the time of measuring the flaw
size method of D-RT method depending on the type of crack. The measurement results, OC-003
(Figure 1) were almost the same as the implanted crack length. However, measurement results of test
piece FC-TP and F-12 were nearly 50%the length of the open cracks (Figure 2). The radiography of
the F-12 test pieces with high-sensitivity IP (ST-V1:130μm) / 10mA/min achieved less-variable,
stable observation results. The measurement result of high-resolution IP (UR-1) produced no
significant improvement, though some differences were seen depending on the exposure amount
(Figure 2). In addition, the film technique sometimes failed to detect cracks with tube voltage of
240kV, while increased exposure in IP improved the identifiability of IQI one step further, leading to
success in crack detection. In order to understand crack detection limits，the thickness of test pieces
were gradually increased. As the result, the crack length was about 13.5 mm in thickness 25 mm at the
tube voltage of 300 kV. At the thickness in 30 mm, crack length is about 8.5 mm and the tendency
which is underestimated was seen. If standard deviation is compared, the standard deviation was small
as thickness increases at the tube voltage of 300 kV (Figure 3).

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Figure 1: Results of crack for OC-003 (300kV,IP:130μm)

Figure 2: Results of crack for FC-TP／F-12

Figure 3: Results of crack for F-12(300kV／240kV)

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6. Conclusion

(1) If X-ray radiography is chosen for the objects of the thickness range from 9mm to 25mm, the F-
RT and D-RT techniques are equivalent in terms of the requirements for image quality indicator.

(2) Although a SUS screen 0.5mm thickness used at front provided relatively a good result for the
improvement of image quality, the result was not satisfied with the quality required by the ISO
standard. It is necessary to study more for image quality improvement.

(3) Within the thickness range of 10mm to 50mm, D-RT is expected to detect cracks more than 10%
of material thickness. In the γ-ray radiography of the F-12 (t = 25) test piece, the identifiability of IQI
is possible but below the criteria.

(4) On the F-12 test piece, the detected cracks were shorter than the actual ones due to the very
narrow width of cracks. It will be thought that the degrees of geometric unsharpness based on
radiographic arrangement, and intensity of the radiation source to penetrate, etc. have been influenced.

Finally, it will be necessary to conduct with a research and an experiment further, towards application
of D-RT techniques in the industrial fields.

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate for Application of NDT Technology for Industrial Fields (AN) committee
members who cooperated greatly on the research and the experiments for this paper and the Japan
Welding Engineering Society secretariat. I appreciate from the bottom of my heart.

References

[1] Committee of Application of NDT Technology for Industrial Fields: Study on application of
NDT Techniques for industrial fields Report 17 (2016), The Japan Welding Engineering
Society
[2] Committee of Application of NDT Technology for Industrial Fields: “Basics and Application
of Digital Radiography in Industrial Fields (2014), The Japan Welding Engineering Society
[3] K. Hirayama: Studies on the narrow irradiation field imaging method in X-ray Radiographic
Testing (1986)

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