IRTS Pulsed Eddy Current Testing Work Procedure

IRTS Robotic Department
Revision: 1.0
Issue Date: October 2016
Inspection Technique: Pulse Eddy Current (PEC)
Description: Generic Procedure for Pulse Eddy Current Testing
Generic procedure for:
Pulsed Eddy Current Testing
Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

Revision: 1.0 Page: 1 of 10
Revision: 1.0
1. Scope
Pulsed Eddy Current Testing (PECT) applied on ferromagnetic steel with wall thickness (WT)
between 0.15” and 4” (3mm-100mm)
2. Purpose
Determination of material loss on ferromagnetic steel components caused by e.g. corrosion and
erosion. In general PECT is used as a testing technology while the surface of the object is covered by
insulation, corrosion product, concrete, marine growth, etc.
3. General conditions
Personnel qualifications
Testing shall be performed by personnel that have passed a PECT training course at level 1 or 2.
Personnel that have passed a level 1 course shall work under supervision of someone that has passed
the level 2 course.
4. Object conditions
Material covering the ferromagnetic steel
PECT can measure through materials that are either:
a) non-metal (e.g. paint, plastics, bitumen, epoxy, dirt, deposits, marine growth ); or
b) concrete with or without re-enforcement bars and chicken wire; or
c) aluminum sheeting of maximum 0.025 “ thickness
d) other non-magnetic metal insulation covers (not aluminum, but e.g. stainless steel) with a
maximum thickness of 0.125” thickness.
There may be chicken wire in the insulation, provided it is either
I. non-magnetic or
II. Restraint from movement.
Corrosion product
PECT can measure through corrosion products, provided the thickness of the corrosion product does
not exceed 1” (25mm). If the corrosion products are thicker than 0.2” (5mm), the PECT probe needs to
be at least 0.8” (20mm) from the corrosion products. This is automatically achieved if the insulation
thickness exceeds 1.5”. If there is no insulation/coating or if the insulation is thinner than 1.5”
(40mm), a 0.8” (20mm) plastic shim should be placed between insulation and probe.

Revision: 1 Page: 2 of 10
Revision: 1.0
Noise and reproducibility

PECT measurements are influenced by factors that are hard to quantify or control, such as lose chicken
wire inside insulation and the electromagnetic interference caused by electrical equipment. For this
reason, the operation of the PECT instrument must be verified at the beginning of each inspection with
a number of test measurements at a representative spot of the inspection object. Only if a
reproducibility of better than 3% is achieved, can the inspection proceed. Given the inspection object,
the reproducibility depends on (i) the steel thickness, (ii) the insulation thickness and (iii) distance
between probe and steel surface
Object temperature
A maximum object temperature of up to 550°C (1020 F) may be inspected with the PECT technique,
provided the PECT probe is kept below 70°C (160 F)
5. Safety
Batteries shall only be changed in safe areas.
The PECT instrument shall be switched off when connecting or disconnecting probes or cables.
The instrumentation included in this procedure is not intrinsically safe and thus should only be
deployed in a hazardous environment under the control of the client’s permit to work system. This
may include continuous monitoring of the atmosphere around the PECT instrument and PECT probes.
When flammable gas is detected, the equipment shall be switched off.
Damaged cables and connectors shall not be used.
The equipment shall only be used:
1. For its intended use, i.e., non-destructive examination of steel objects;

2. By staff that received adequate training;
3. Within a temperature range from +5 °C to +40 °C, (41F - 104F) relative humidity between
15% and 93% and atmospheric pressure 70 – 105 kPa;
4. Without damage to its housing, connectors and cables;
5. With the batteries securely placed in their compartment with the locks closed; or placed in the
designated compartments of the carrier case;
6. Placed in such a way that the operator has easy access to the power switch located on the
Durabook tablet computer;
7. With easy access to the mains power outlet when the AC adaptor or Mascot charger are
plugged in.
When an explosive gas is detected around the PECT equipment, its cable or probes:
1. Do not press the trigger button on the probe or the instrument;

Revision: 1.0
2. Make sure the PECT equipment is switched off, i.e., its blue LED power indicator is off;
3. In case the LED power indicator is on or blinking: press the power button of the Durabook
tablet computer till the LED power indicator is off;
4. Do not make or break any connections;
5. Do not insert or remove any batteries.
In case that the PECT instrument is switched on and an emergency situation develops, press
briefly the power button to switch off the PECT instrument and computer. If the Durabook does
not react to pressing the power button briefly, keep the power button pressed down till the LED
power indicator of the Durabook computer switches off.
6. Equipment
Testing shall be performed with PECT equipment that as a minimum displays the eddy current decay
curve, for each point in the measurement grid. This procedure was written for Maxwell NDT model
201X, where X can be any number.
The following equipment and ancillaries may be used:
PECT Instrument (control box)

PECT battery & charger
PECT signal cable 20 ft (8m).
Portable USB Hard Drive for Inspection Data Back-up.
PECT probes: P1 (small), P2 (medium) and P3 (large)
Set of non-metallic lift-off shims
A suitable power supply (110V or 240V, 50Hz or 60Hz) will be required in a safe area for charging of
the batteries of PECT instrument and tablet computer.
The PECT instrument is designed to IP65, which implies they can be used in light rain. However, the
equipment needs to be protected from heavy rain, e.g. using a cover.
7. Testing
Step 1: Probe selection

The user has to enter the thickness of the insulation and the nominal thickness. Based on that input, a
probe will be recommended: either:
1. P1 (small) for lift-off between 0” and 1” (0-25mm)
2. P2 (medium) for lift-off between 1” and 3” (25-75mm)
3. P3 (large) for lift-off exceeding g 3” (75mm)

Revision: 1.0
Step 2: Placing of the probe

The name plate of the probe it fitted on the top of the probe. The probe should be place on the
inspection object with the bottom of the probe facing the steel surface. Mixing up the top of the probe
will result in a weak signal.
The probe should be oriented consistently with respect to the inspection object. The preferred
orientation is parallel: the long axis of the probe is parallel with the axis of the object. It is also
possible to record data in perpendicular orientation, which may be preferred at elbows.
Pipe
Parallel orientation Perpendicular orientation

of the PEC probe of the PEC probe
Step 3: Selection of a reference spot

The operator shall select a suitable reference spot that is in a location representative of the actual other
measurement locations on the inspection object, i.e.:
1. Same nominal wall thickness;
2. Same lift-off;
3. Same insulation type (if applicable); and
4. At least 0.5m away from edges, flanges or other substantial pieces of metal.
Step 4: Recording test measurements at the reference spot

The operator shall place the probe on the reference spot and record test measurements.
If a shim needs to be used (see ‘sensor lift-off and use of shims’) the test measurements shall be
recorded with the shim underneath the probe.
The application will record a number of test measurements with a single current pulse. From these test
measurements, the repeatability is deduced, which is the standard deviation (spread) in the test
measurements.
The maximum repeatability that is acceptable is 3%. If the repeatability exceeds 3%, the operator shall
1. verify from the A-scan whether there is excessive signal distortion and whether there are any
sources of electromagnetic interference such as welding activities, electrical equipment, impressed
electrical currents nearby. If practical, these sources of electrical interference should be temporarily
switched off during inspection
Revision: 1.0
2. Repeat the test measurements with a more powerful probe (if possible)
3. Repeat the test measurements with more current pulses (maximum 8)
If the 3% criterion is still not met with the most powerful probe (P3) and with the maximum number
of current pulses (8), the inspector can select to record data with repeat measurements at each spot, e.g.
4 readings in each location.
Step 5: Data Recording

Do not move the probe during a measurement. If the probe was accidentally moved, reject the data
point and measure again on the same spot.
Avoid metal objects between probe and pipe.
Where possible the same Lift-off distance should be set and maintained throughout the inspection. The
lift-off should be as low as possible.
The PECT readings are initially calibrated relative to the reference selected; whereby the reference
reading is 100%. At the discretion of the operator, the PECT readings may be calibrated relative to
another location, e.g. where there is a constant high PECT reading.
A reading that deviates more than 10% from the reference will be measured again to ensure this is not
a miss-reading, e.g. due to probe movement, loose chicken wire etc. The reading is accepted if the
second reading at the same spot is within ±3% of the first reading. If the second reading deviates more
than ±3%, a third reading shall be recorded. If the last two readings agree within ±3%, the first reading
is rejected and the last two are accepted.
Sensor lift-off and use of shims

The sensor lift-off, i.e., the distance between bottom of the probe and top of the steel surface, should
be as low as possible, since this optimizes the defect sensitivity and signal quality. In general,
therefore, no shims should be used in data collection. There are four exceptions which will be
elaborated below:
Exception 1: The insulation thickness is less than 1.5” (40mm) and the steel surface is covered with
corrosion product with a thickness exceeding 0.2” (5mm). In this case, add a 0.75” (20mm) thick
plastic shim underneath the probe.

Revision: 1.0
Exception 2: If the PECT signal is distorted by magnetic sheeting, one needs to record data with a
0.75” (20mm) thick shim underneath the probe.
Exception 3: If there is large variation in the thickness of the insulation. The probe lift-off should be
the same during the inspection. A variation in lift-off of about ±25% of the average lift-off is normally
acceptable. In case of large variation in lift-off, one may apply shims to avoid large variation in lift-
off. This may for instance occur in the inspection of a coated pipe where part of the pipe has no
coating. The section without coating needs to be inspected through a shim with approximately the
same thickness as the coating. In this way the data is recorded with the same lift-off.
Exception 4: If the temperature of the steel surface exceeds 50 °C, the operator shall place a thermal
insulation shim underneath the probe to protect it from the heat. The shim thickness should be as thin
as practical and not exceed 15mm.
The shim may be made of any non-metal material, e.g. plastic.
Lift-off the same for all measurement positions

(preferred)
Probe
Pipe
Lift-off varies between measurement positions

(NOT preferred)
Pipe
8. Reporting
PECT measures percentage variations of average wall thickness in the footprint area on the same test
specimen. It is important to realize that this is usually not the minimum wall thickness in the
measurement location.
Calibration of PECT against ultrasound

If required, the PECT readings can be calibrated on one spot of the test specimen against an ultrasonic
wall thickness measurement.
Revision: 1.0
If no ultrasonic calibration is carried out, the PECT wall thickness data must be reported as percentage
relative to the reference measurement on the test specimen.
For calibration against ultrasound, select a spot on the test item:
 That is not corroded

 As close as practical to the inspection area.
 At least 4” away from any welds. Make a note on the PECT data sheet of any welds near the
calibration spot
 Where there is either no coating or where the coating can be removed over an area of about
4”x4”
This is referred to as the ‘ultrasonic calibration spot’.
Carry out ultra-sound wall thickness measurements on five different points as indicated below:
The difference between the maximum and minimum of these readings should not exceed 15% of the
average wall thickness. If it exceeds this value, select another location as calibration area and repeat
the ultrasound measurements.
Calculate the average of the five ultrasound readings and record the results
Averaging over the foot print area

In the interpretation of the data, it is important that the PECT wall thickness reading is an average of
the steel thickness over the ‘PECT footprint’. The diameter if the PECT foot print depends on both the
sensor lift-off and the steel thickness,
In the interpretation of the data, it is important that the PECT wall thickness reading is an average of
the steel thickness over the ‘PECT footprint’. As is illustrated in Figure 2, the diameter if the PECT
foot print, F depends on both the sensor lift-off L and the steel thickness, WT :
F  min 1" ,1.5 ( L  WT ) , F  min 25mm,1.5 ( L  WT )

Revision: 1.0
400
Footprint diameter (F) [mm]

View from side
Probe 350
L L+WT 300
Steel 250
WT
200
F 150
Footprint (F):
disk with eddy currents 100
View from top F 50
0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300
Lift-off plus steel thickness (L+WT) [mm]
Figure 2: Approximate diameter (F) of the PECT footprint
i.e., the footprint is 1.5 times the distance from the bottom of the probe to the bottom of the steel. The
minimum diameter of the footprint is 25mm (1”).
For wall loss over an area that exceeds the footprint, the PECT reading will be the average wall
thickness. For a defect with diameter D smaller that the footprint diameter F , i.e. D  F , PECT will
2
D
PEC wall loss     actual average wall loss inside diameter D; D  F
measure F ,
As a rule of thumb:
 PECT will detect wall loss and properly size the average wall loss, if
a) the wall loss extends over an area larger than the PECT footprint (i.e. D  F ) and
b) the average wall loss inside the footprint exceeds 10%.
 PECT will detect wall loss provided the average wall loss in the footprint exceeds 10%, but
1
2 F DF
underestimates the average wall loss if
D  12 F
 PECT will not detect wall loss if
Reported information
When reporting PECT measurements the following information should be provided in the
measurement report to ensure test repeatability:
1. Test location
2. Object data e.g.:
a. Object material
b. Nominal WT
c. Insulation and/or cover and/or coating material
d. Sheeting material
e. Drawing of the object if available

Revision: 1.0
3. Measurement grid sizes, location and how the measurement grid was positioned on the object
in a way that locations can be relocated
4. An measurement or calculation of the lift-off, actual WT and footprint size
5. Indication which location was used as the reference spot
6. Settings and adaptations used in the measurement e.g:
a. Probe used
b. Number of pulses used
c. Pulse current
d. Use of shims, manipulators etc.
7. The measured values on the measurement grid
8. Information on disturbances of the signal, their cause and measures used to limited their
influence
Reporting/rejection levels
Reporting levels need to be agreed with the client. In general, further investigation of indications is
recommended to clients if the measured average wall thickness indicated by the PECT instrument is
below 85% of the reference value. In specific cases, a lower or higher level may be appropriate.


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IRTS Robotic Department

Generic procedure for:

Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

There may be chicken wire in the insulation, provided it is either

Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

Noise and reproducibility

Batteries shall only be changed in safe areas.

Damaged cables and connectors shall not be used.

The equipment shall only be used:

1. For its intended use, i.e., non-destructive examination of steel objects;

1. Do not press the trigger button on the probe or the instrument;

The following equipment and ancillaries may be used:

PECT Instrument (control box)

Step 1: Probe selection

1. P1 (small) for lift-off between 0” and 1” (0-25mm)

2. P2 (medium) for lift-off between 1” and 3” (25-75mm)

3. P3 (large) for lift-off exceeding g 3” (75mm)

Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

Step 2: Placing of the probe

Parallel orientation Perpendicular orientation

Step 3: Selection of a reference spot

1. Same nominal wall thickness;

3. Same insulation type (if applicable); and

Step 4: Recording test measurements at the reference spot

3. Repeat the test measurements with more current pulses (maximum 8)

Step 5: Data Recording

Avoid metal objects between probe and pipe.

Sensor lift-off and use of shims

Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

The shim may be made of any non-metal material, e.g. plastic.

Lift-off the same for all measurement positions

Lift-off varies between measurement positions

Calibration of PECT against ultrasound

For calibration against ultrasound, select a spot on the test item:

 That is not corroded

This is referred to as the ‘ultrasonic calibration spot’.

Averaging over the foot print area

F  min 1" ,1.5 ( L  WT ) , F  min 25mm,1.5 ( L  WT )

Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

Footprint diameter (F) [mm]

Figure 2: Approximate diameter (F) of the PECT footprint

Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

Document title: Generic procedure for Pulsed Eddy Current Testing

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