2302 Asnt Me Feb TFM

TOTAL
FOCUSING
METHOD
New Technique
for Improved
Results
+
PAUT FOR
CRA CLADDED
PIPE
FLEXIBLE
STRAIN
SENSORS
CHATGPT
FEBRUARY 2023
ASNTAgrants
S N T… C R E AT Inon-transferable
non-exclusive, N G A S A F Elicense
R WofOthis
R Lmaterial
D ! ® to Mr Udom Meephaungpol.
All rights reserved. © ASNT 2023. To report unauthorized use, contact: customersupport@asnt.org
2302 ME Feb New.indd 1 1/23/23 7:35 AM

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FEBRUARY 2023
VOLUME 81 • NUMBER 2
10
SCANNER FEATURE
7 UPFRONT
10 INDUSTRY NEWS
28 PAUT OF CRA CLADDED PIPE
14 NEW PRODUCTS CIRCUMFERENTIAL DISSIMILAR WELDS
17 NDE OUTLOOK M U STA FA G O N U L A L
“This Is ChatGPT; CRA clad steel pipes are widely used in pipeline transportation
How May I Help You?”
systems, chemical plants, petroleum, and natural gas industries. In
20 STANDARDS UPDATE this article, UT inspection of dissimilar welds, such as those found in
ASTM E2884 CRA clad steel pipes, is examined.
23 PATENTS ROUNDUP
NDE for Aerospace
Applications
TECHNICAL PAPER
24 NEW MEDIA
38 ACOUSTIC PATH FILTERING FOR IMPROVED
SCOPE
53 LEADERSHIP
MULTIMODE TOTAL FOCUSING METHOD
54 ASNT SEEKING INSPECTION
SPEAKER AND AUTHOR B E N O I T L E PAG E A N D G U I L L AU M E PA I N C H AU D - A P R I L
PROPOSALS FOR 2023 TFM is often affected by mode conversion artifacts, which reduces
58 SECTION NEWS its accuracy. This study proposes a method called Path-Filtered Total
Spotlight: Central Valley Focusing Method (PF-TFM) that can directly control the ultrasonic
59 AWARDS & HONORS wave propagation modes, allowing for more accurate detection,
Lester/Mehl Honor Lecture sizing, and representation of defects.
60 PEOPLE WATCH
62 CERTIFICATION Q&A
2022 SNT-TC-1A Interpretations FELLOWSHIP PAPER
64 AT WORK 46 INVESTIGATION OF SOFT ELASTOMERIC
Rodney Stephens,
Instructor, NDE Technology CAPACITOR FOR THE MONITORING OF LARGE
RESOURCES ANGULAR MOTIONS
H A N L I U, S I M O N L A F L A M M E , S D I Q A N WA R TA H E R , J O N G - H Y U N
25 NDT EVENTS
J E O N G , J I A N L I , CA R O L I N E B E N N E T T, W I L L I A M N . CO L L I N S ,
66 SERVICES & RESOURCES
DAV I D J . E I S E N M A N N , AU ST I N D O W N E Y, PAU L Z I E H L , A N D
72 SNAPSHOTS HONGKI JO
RT Inspection of
Longitudinal Weld This paper discusses the use of a flexible strain sensor called a
corrugated soft elastomeric capacitor (cSEC) for angular motion
sensing of a free rotational hinge, which is able to transduce
geometric variations into a measurable change in capacitance.
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
2023 READY REFERENCE

ON OUR COVER: ASNT’s annual guide to Society organization is
Total Focusing Method. now exclusively available as a digital download.
Just scan the QR code to get started!
Photo courtesy of
Evident Scientific Inc.

F E B R UA RY 2 0 2 3 • M AT E R I A L S E VA LUAT I O N 3
2302 ME Feb New.indd 3 1/23/23 7:35 AM

| WEBEXTRAS
AT ASNT.ORG
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s UPFRONT SCANNER |
FEBRUARY 2023
Volume 81 • Number 2
AI AND THE FUTURE
JOURNAL STAFF
PUBLISHER: Neal J. Couture, CAE OF PUBLISHING
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS/
EDITOR: Jill Ross Recently I attended a professional conference on digital book
Cara Markland
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: publishing. As you can imagine, one of the hot topics was artificial
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Joy Grimm Intelligence (AI) and, more specifically, ChatGPT.
GRAPHIC DESIGNER/
ILLUSTRATOR: Synthia Jester
What is ChatGPT? ChatGPT is a powerful language model trained
by OpenAI to generate human-like text for various tasks such as
ASNT MEDIA & EVENT SALES answering questions, generating summaries, writing essays, and more.
Holly Klarman, MCI Group It was launched in late 2022 and is already proving to be a major
holly.klarman@wearemci.com
disruptor in many industries, including publishing. While this is causing
1-410-584-8576
Christina Kardon, MCI Group many human editors and writers to be concerned, there are many
christina.kardon@wearemci.com benefits to using AI in publishing.
JILL ROSS
1-410-584-8646 AI has the potential to revolutionize the editing and publishing DIRECTOR OF
industry by automating various tasks that are traditionally done by PUBLICATIONS
TECHNICAL EDITOR JROSS@ASNT.ORG
John Z. Chen, KBR human editors and publishers. One such task is reference checking,
where AI can assist editors by checking that all the references used in
ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITORS
a piece of writing are accurate and have been cited correctly. This can
John C. Aldrin, Computational Tools
not only save editors significant amounts of time but also help ensure
Sreenivas Alampalli, Stantec
that the writing is factually accurate.
Ali Abdul-Aziz, Kent State University
Narendra K. Batra, Naval
Another application of AI in editing and publishing is writing
summaries and abstracts. AI can take a longer piece of writing and
Many experts
Research Laboratory (retired)
Dave Farson, Ohio State University
summarize it into a shorter version, which can be particularly useful for believe that AI
Jin-Yeon Kim, Georgia
editors and publishers who need to quickly grasp the main ideas of a
piece of writing.
will complement
Institute of Technology
Cara A.C. Leckey, NASA AI can also be used to narrate audiobooks, by reading a book out human writers
Langley Research Center
Mani Mina, Iowa State University
loud in a computer-generated voice. This can potentially save editors
and publishers time and money, as they wouldn’t need to hire a human
and editors,
Ehsan Dehghan-Niri, New narrator. Furthermore, AI can also be used for language translation, rather than
Mexico State University
Yi-Cheng (Peter) Pan, Emerson Inc.
which can help editors and publishers translate written work into
different languages, making it more accessible to a wider audience.
replace them.
Anish Poudel, MxV Rail In addition to these examples, AI can also assist with other editing
Donald J. Roth, Roth tasks such as proofreading and grammar checking, which can help
Technical Consulting LLC
to ensure that written work is free of errors. However, it’s important to
Ram P. Samy, Consultant
note that while AI has the capability to perform these tasks, it is not yet
Steven M. Shepard, capable of fully replicating human creativity and understanding. AI is
Thermal Wave Imaging
not currently able to produce original content or fully understand the
Ripi Singh, Inspiring Next
nuances of language and storytelling.
Surendra Singh, Honeywell
Many experts believe that AI will complement human writers and
Roderic K. Stanley, NDE
Information Consultants editors, rather than replace them. For example, AI can assist with
Mike C. Tsao, University of
Connecticut – Avery Point
Lianxiang Yang, Oakland University
Reza Zoughi, Iowa State University
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Toni Bailey, TB3NDT Consulting
Bruce G. Crouse, Inspection Services
READ MATERIALS
Huidong Gao, PEMEX Deer Park
EVALUATION
Saptarshi Mukherjee, Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory ONLINE!
Hossein Taheri, Georgia
Southern University

2302 ME Feb New.indd 7 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCANNER UPFRONT |
| SOCIETYNOTES
UPFRONT FROM P. 7
rote tasks, freeing up human writers and editors to focus on more

creative and conceptual aspects of their work. Additionally, as AI
continues to improve and evolve, it will likely be able to assist with a SECTION
wider range of tasks. However, this also means that the job market ANNIVERSARIES
for writers and editors will adapt accordingly, and it will require ASNT congratulates the following
them to be more proficient in working with AI. sections that celebrated milestone
Guess what? I didn’t write the previous five paragraphs. I wrote anniversaries in 2022:
the intro and then asked ChatGPT to summarize the rest, while Ñ 80 Years: Chicago Section,
providing a bit of direction. Are you surprised? While it’s not Detroit Section, Metro New
perfect and it’s not really in my voice, I can definitely see the time- York/Northern New Jersey
saving benefits of having a virtual editorial assistant like this, and I’m Section, and Pittsburgh Section
sure it will only improve over time. Ñ 65 Years: Pacific Northwest
Don’t miss this month’s NDE Outlook on page 17 to see Section
Associate Technical Editor Ripi Singh’s experiment with ChatGPT.
Ñ 60 Years: Minnesota Section
As you may recall, Ripi discussed OpenAI back in his September
2022 column and predicted its rise.
On an unrelated note, there is another area where technology SECTION CHARTER
has benefited us. Beginning this year, the annual Ready Reference: REVOKED
A Guide to ASNT Organization will be made available as a digital The charter for the Fort McMurray
download. If you haven’t yet explored our new platform for digital Section was revoked at the
DOWNLOAD document delivery, including ebooks and digital ME, now is the last meeting of the Sections
THE READY perfect time. Scan the QR code to check it out and download your Operations Council that was held
REFERENCE. copy of Ready Reference for future use. on Tuesday, 6 December 2022.
• 2000 ASME & RFT tubes in stock SAVE THE DATE

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SYMPOSIUM
• Custom calibration standards The 31st Research Symposium
• Mock-up exchangers / will take place 26–29 June 2023
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• EDM notches, holes and ﬂaws presenters will have the oppor-
tunity to publish their work in
•S
a special Symposium edition
• Spiral notches & tube expansions of Research in Nondestructive
• Corrosion simulation Evaluation (RNDE). For more
details, go to asnt.org/events.
NEW PRESS
RELEASE INBOX
Have a press release that you’d
like to submit for publication
in Materials Evaluation? ASNT
accepts outside submissions for
Industry News, People Watch,
New Media, Products, and Photos.
Submit your press release to
press@asnt.org for consideration
and review.
www. .com
ASNT8 grants non-exclusive, non-transferable license of this material to Mr Udom Meephaungpol.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 8 1/23/23 7:36 AM

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SCANNER
NEUTRON RADIOGRAPHY’S
ROLE IN ARTEMIS I MISSION
On 11 December 2022, Artemis I’s Orion capsule “It is imperative that systems must work when they
made a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean should, but also that they not be deployed before
after nearly 26 days in space and orbiting the they are intended to function,” said MNRC Research
moon. Orion is NASA’s new exploration spacecraft & Development Engineer Sandra Warren.
designed to carry humans into deep space. In such a scenario, NDT is the only way to perform
The McClellan Nuclear Research Center (MNRC) a comprehensive inspection of these critical compo-
at the University of California, Davis played an nents. Neutron radiography is the only tool that can
important role in the success of the historic moon image low atomic number materials, such as water
mission. The MNRC is a one-of-a-kind facility and pyrotechnics, when they are surrounded by
with unique capabilities to conduct nondestruc- metal casings in order to make sure that the compo-
tive testing (NDT) using neutron radiography. For nents have all been assembled correctly. It is a
the Artemis I mission, one of the tests that NASA technique similar to X-ray radiography but provides
performed at the center was neutron imaging of vastly superior image contrast in these specific
the pyrotechnic devices known as “frangible rings”— applications.
responsible for stage separation of a rocket—to make “Neutron radiography is a wonderful method,
sure they worked effectively during critical moments especially for aerospace, because so many things
of flight. are explosive devices,” said Warren. She added that
The Orion capsule
approaches the far “The UC Davis reactor is literally the only place on explosives, when manufactured properly, have a
side of the moon on earth where NASA can image these critical pieces reliability that far exceeds electrical wires. “In space,
the sixth day of the due to the very limited number of neutron-based there’s a lot of vibration, G-forces, electricity issues,
Artemis I mission, imaging facilities and the size of these pieces,” said wires breaking, etc., but explosives will always work
21 November
Wesley Frey, director of MNRC. “Safe manned flight in a reliable manner, even when they don’t have
2022. NASA used
specialized neutron into space is dependent on this facility.” oxygen.”
imaging facilities Most heavy-lift rockets contain millions of complex NASA pyrotechnic devices vary in size from
at the UC Davis components that need thorough testing and strin- really small initiators to start engines, to parachute-
McClellan Nuclear gent quality control with very low projected failure deploying systems, to very large stage separation
Research Center to
rates. But such rockets are also filled with fuel that systems. In Artemis I, a gold-colored band, about a
test critical rocket
components prior to makes up 80% to 90% of their mass, leaving almost half-foot tall and over 20 ft in diameter, goes around
the mission launch. no room for redundant safety systems. the rocket, providing the final separation between
the lower stages of the rocket and the actual Orion
PHOTO CREDIT: NASA
capsule where the crew is going to live in.

“That’s one of the things we image here,” said
Frey.
Frey said that transitioning from using explosive
bolts to these frangible rings has benefits for heavy
rockets: it will keep space a little less polluted as the
frangible rings, unlike explosive bolts, produce no
hazardous space debris.
“That’s probably the most interesting thing that
we’ve done for the space launch system, though
dozens of flight critical items on the SLS rocket
are tested at the facility,” said Frey. The facility has
already completed testing for Artemis II components
and is now testing components for Artemis III, which
will return humans to the surface of the moon.
“NASA is interested in transitioning all heavy lift
rockets to use frangible rings technology, and for
that to happen they need our UC Davis reactor to
ASNT10grants non-exclusive, non-transferable license of this material to Mr Udom Meephaungpol.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 10 1/23/23 7:36 AM

INDUSTRYNEWS SCANNER |
do the final inspection on all of them, Cracked sewer
because there’s literally no other place to pipes could be
automatically
do them,” Frey said.
repaired using
This transition became more likely sludge embedded
during the Artemis I mission when after a in microcapsules.
four-year effort, on 21 November, the US
Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued
a renewed 20-year operating license to
the facility.
AUSTRALIAN PROJECT
AIMS TO SELF-HEAL
CRACKED CONCRETE
changes as acid levels build up, micro- they are often short-lived, with 20% failing
WITH SLOPPY SLUDGE
capsules will release the healing agents. after five years and 55% failing after
Water treatment sludge could be used
“This technology will not only extend 10 years.
to prevent 117 000 km of sewer pipes
the lifetime of concrete structures, saving Existing methods to contain acid corro-
in Australia from cracking in the future,
the Australian economy more than sion in sewer pipes are unsuccessful for
without any intervention by humans,
$1 billion, but it will promote a circular a variety of reasons. Chemicals can be
helping to save more than one billion
economy as well by reusing sludge that added to wastewater to alter the sewer
AUD in annual maintenance costs.
would normally end up in landfill,” said environment and stop corrosion, but
A world-first project led by
Zhuge. they contaminate the environment and
University of South Australia sustainable
Existing repairs of deteriorating are also costly. Another option involves
engineering expert Professor Yan Zhuge
concrete not only cost millions, but increasing the speed of sewage flow by
is testing a novel solution to halt unprece-
|
dented levels of corrosion in the country’s
ageing concrete pipelines.
Corrosive acid from sulphur-oxidizing
DATAFACTS
bacteria in wastewater, along with
excessive loads, internal pressure, and TESTING, INSPECTION, & CERTIFICATION
temperature fluctuations, are cracking MARKET GLOBAL FORECAST TO 2027
pipes and reducing their life span, The Global Testing, Inspection, & Certification market size was estimated at
costing hundreds of millions of dollars to US$217.52 billion in 2021, US$234.06 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow
repair every year across Australia. at a CAGR 7.78% to reach US$340.99 billion by 2027.
Self-healing concrete, in the form of
The referenced report provides market sizing and forecast across seven major currencies:
microcapsules filled with water treatment
USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. In the report, the years 2019 and 2020 are
sludge, could be the answer.
considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and
“Sludge waste shows promise to miti-
years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.
gate microbial corrosion in concrete
sewer pipes because it works as a 400
healing agent to resist acid corrosion and 350

CAGR OF 7.78%
heal the cracks,” said Zhuge.
BILLIONS (USD)
300
Researchers will develop microcap- 250
sules with a pH-sensitive shell and a 200
healing agent core containing alum 340.99
150
sludge (a byproduct of wastewater treat- 217.52 234.06
100
ment plants) and calcium hydroxide
50
powder. The combination will be highly
0
resistant to microbially-induced corrosion. 2021 2022 2027
It will be embedded inside the concrete YEAR

at the final step of mixing to protect Source: Research and Markets, researchandmarkets.com/reports/5337896
it from breakage. When the pH value

2302 ME Feb New.indd 11 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCANNER INDUSTRYNEWS |
amending the pipe hydraulics, but this describing their record-breaking findings of a piece of silicon is one, the aluminum
is not always effective. Surface coating in Science on 2 December 2022. airframe in passenger airplanes is about
is another popular option, but it is time “When you design structural mate- 35, and the toughness of some of the
consuming, and the effect is temporary. rials, you want them to be strong but best steels is around 100. So, 500—it’s
“We are confident this novel self- also ductile and resistant to fracture,” a staggering number,” said research
healing concrete based on advance said project co-lead Easo George, the co-leader Robert Ritchie, a senior faculty
composite technology will address issues Governor’s Chair for Advanced Alloy scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Materials
of sewer pipe corrosion and sludge Theory and Development at ORNL and Sciences Division and the Chua Professor
disposal in one hit,” said Zhuge. the University of Tennessee. “Typically, it’s of Engineering at UC Berkeley.
The project is being partially funded a compromise between these properties. Ritchie and George began experi-
by an AUD$501 504 Australian Research But this material is both, and instead of menting with CrCoNi and another alloy
Council grant and involves researchers becoming brittle at low temperatures, it that also contains manganese and iron
from the University of South Australia and gets tougher.” (CrMnFeCoNi) nearly a decade ago.
University of Queensland. CrCoNi is a subset of a class of metals They created samples of the alloys then
called high entropy alloys (HEAs). All the lowered the materials to liquid nitrogen
alloys in use today contain a high propor- temperatures (around 77 K, or –321 °F)
SCIENTISTS MEASURE tion of one element with lower amounts and discovered impressive strength and
THE TOUGHEST of additional elements added, but HEAs toughness. They immediately wanted to
MATERIAL ON EARTH are made of an equal mix of each constit- follow up their work with tests at liquid
Scientists have measured the highest uent element. These balanced atomic helium temperature ranges, but finding
toughness ever recorded, of any material, recipes appear to bestow some of these facilities that would enable stress testing
while investigating a metallic alloy made materials with an extraordinarily high samples in such a cold environment, and
of chromium, cobalt, and nickel (CrCoNi). combination of strength and ductility recruiting team members with the analyt-
Not only is the metal extremely ductile— when stressed, which together make up ical tools and experience needed to
which, in materials science, means highly what is termed “toughness.” HEAs have analyze what happens in the material at
malleable—and impressively strong been a hot area of research since they an atomic level, took the next 10 years.
(meaning it resists permanent deforma- were first developed about 20 years ago, Using neutron diffraction, electron
tion), its strength and ductility improve as but the technology required to push the backscatter diffraction, and transmission
it gets colder. This runs counter to most materials to their limits in extreme tests electron microscopy, Ritchie, George,
other materials in existence. was not available until recently. and their colleagues at Berkeley Lab, the
The team, led by researchers from “The toughness of this material near University of Bristol, Rutherford Appleton
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory liquid helium temperatures (20 K, –424 °F) Laboratory, and the University of New
(Berkeley Lab) and Oak Ridge National is as high as 500 megapascals square root South Wales examined the lattice struc-
Laboratory (ORNL), published a study meters. In the same units, the toughness tures of CrCoNi samples that had been
fractured at room temperature and 20 K.
(For measuring strength and ductility, a
CREDIT: ROBERT RITCHIE/BERKELEY LAB
pristine metal specimen is pulled until it

fractures, whereas for fracture toughness
tests, a sharp crack is intentionally intro-
duced into the sample before it is pulled
and the stress needed to grow the crack
is then measured.)
The images and atomic maps gener-
ated from these techniques revealed
that the alloy’s toughness is due to a trio
of dislocation obstacles that come into
effect in a particular order when force
is applied to the material. First, moving
dislocations cause areas of the crystal to
slide away from other areas that are on
parallel planes. This movement displaces
layers of unit cells so that their pattern
Microscopy-generated images showing the path of a fracture and accompanying crystal structure no longer matches up in the direction
deformation in the CrCoNi alloy at nanometer scale during stress testing at 20 K (–424 °F). The perpendicular to the slipping movement,
fracture is propagating from left to right. creating a type of obstacle. Further force

2302 ME Feb New.indd 12 1/23/23 7:36 AM

on the metal creates a phenomenon called testing and pressure equipment inspection,
| SOCIETYNOTES
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form a mirrored symmetry with a boundary will allow us to quickly ramp up our inspec- EARN CEUS WITH
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2302 ME Feb New.indd 13 1/23/23 7:36 AM

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2302 ME Feb New.indd 16 1/23/23 7:36 AM

NDEOUTLOOK SCANNER |
“THIS IS CHATGPT; HOW MAY I HELP YOU?”
Background ChatGPT has gone viral, beating all OUR SECOND QUESTION: WHAT IS
NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION 4.0?
In the summer of 2021, Singh and previous records of user engagement
Garg collaborated with an artificial intel- and social media domination. It gained a ChatGPT’s Response: Nondestructive
ligence (AI) agent (GPT-3) to research million registered users in the first week, evaluation (NDE) 4.0 is a term that refers
human factors in decision-making in the almost 15× faster than the record holder to the application of advanced technol-
context of NDE 4.0. They created an Instagram. ogies and digitalization to the field of
interface script to engage with nondestructive testing and evaluation.
AI. The outcome was published Nondestructive testing (NDT) is the
in the Journal of Nondestructive process of evaluating the proper-
Evaluation in August 20211. The ties of a material, component, or
authors shared their experience in system without causing damage
a previous NDE Outlook column2. to it. NDT methods include
They articulated their collaboration techniques such as ultrasonic
as an eye-opening and rewarding testing, radiographic testing,
experience for human partners. and magnetic particle testing,
The article provided convincing among others. NDE 4.0 involves
evidence of a powerful human- the integration of advanced
machine coworking at linguistic technologies such as artificial
and cognitive levels—one that is intelligence, machine learning,
closer than we think, and more and the Internet of Things (IoT)
powerful than we conceive. into NDT processes to improve
On 30 November 2022, efficiency, accuracy, and automa-
OpenAI released ChatGPT, a tion. It is also associated with the
spin-off of GPT-3 that is geared toward Up Until Now concept of Industry 4.0, which refers to
answering questions via back-and-forth We wanted to find out how much does the integration of advanced technologies
dialogue. This conversational format ChatGPT know about NDE 4.0 and if it into manufacturing and other industrial
allows ChatGPT3 to answer follow-up learns from our interactions. sectors to improve productivity and
questions, admit its mistakes, challenge competitiveness.
incorrect premises, and reject inappro- OUR FIRST QUESTION: WHAT IS NDE 4.0? This sounds very good—correct and
priate requests. No need for an inter- ChatGPT’s Response: It is not clear what almost complete. So, we continued the
face script. It is similar to a model called you are referring to with the term “NDE chat. Our objective was to quickly learn
Sparrow, which DeepMind revealed in 4.0.” It is possible that you are referring to the language trends for our next book. We
September4. Both these models were a specific version or iteration of a product were exploring ChatGPT’s capability to help
trained using feedback from human or service that uses the abbreviation us with research and content creation. We
users around the world. “NDE,” but without more context it is diffi- asked a series of questions around NDE,
cult to provide a specific answer. If you sensing, perception, cognition, cyber-phys-
TA BLE have more information or context about ical, physical-digital, digitalization, and so on,
Time to 1 million users what you are asking, please let me know and the responses kept getting better in
and I’ll do my best to help. breadth and depth. Then we asked a ques-
Netflix 3.5 years tion to help us with our upcoming business
We accept that honesty. So, we asked a
Facebook 10 months development meeting.
follow-up question to see if expanding the
Spotify 5 months abbreviation helped.
Instagram 2.5 months
ChatGPT 5 days

2302 ME Feb New.indd 17 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCANNER NDEOUTLOOK |
OUR 14TH QUESTION: I AM LOOKING to their environment without human validation and context. You cannot blindly
FOR TERMS DESCRIBING THE CONFLUENCE
intervention. Cognitive NDE systems trust the initial response or give up. Just
OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES WITH
NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION? are designed to improve the perfor- keep chatting so it understands you
mance and capabilities of NDE better and the context of the conversa-
ChatGPT’s Response: There are several
systems. tion. That is powerful. Some are calling
terms that can be used to describe the
it a threat to Google search. However,
integration of emerging technologies And there it is: ChatGPT now used the
as of now, it does not crawl the web. It
with nondestructive evaluation (NDE). term NDE 4.0 in its response. Wow, it is a
uses a data snapshot through 2021. With
Here are a few examples: fast learner. We were intrigued and asked
Microsoft poised to acquire and make
Ñ Digital NDE: This term refers to the the original question again, only to be
it a part of Bing search as well as the
use of digital technologies such as pleasantly impressed.
Microsoft Office suite, we are in for a very
sensors, computers, and communi-
OUR FIRST QUESTION AGAIN: powerful virtual office assistant—an intelli-
cation networks in NDE to improve
WHAT IS NDE 4.0? gent one.
efficiency, accuracy, and automation.
ChatGPT’s Response: NDE 4.0 refers GPT-3, which aspires to handle text like
Digital NDE can involve the use of
to the application of advanced technol- a human, works with 175 billion param-
advanced data analysis techniques
ogies and digitalization to the field of eters, roughly equivalent to the number
such as artificial intelligence (AI) and
nondestructive evaluation (NDE). NDE 4.0 of synapses in a hedgehog’s brain. The
machine learning to improve the
involves the integration of technologies technical community speculates its
interpretation of NDE data.
such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine successor GPT-4 to work with trillions of
Ñ NDE 4.0: This term refers to the parameters, getting closer to the human
learning, and the Internet of Things
application of advanced technolo- brain with 120 trillion synapses. At some
(IoT) into NDE processes to improve
gies and digitalization to the field point, GPT will go multimodal—text,
efficiency, accuracy, and automation. It
of NDE. NDE 4.0 involves the inte- audio, and video. Sigh…How close will
is also associated with the concept of
gration of technologies such as AI, that be to a human head? Our heads
Industry 4.0, which refers to the integration
machine learning, and the Internet hurt to think.
of advanced technologies into manu-
of Things (IoT) into NDE processes In conclusion: AI tools with human-like
facturing and other industrial sectors to
to improve efficiency, accuracy, and capability are here, easily accessible, and
improve productivity and competitiveness.
automation. It is also associated with affordable. They will not replace your job,
NDE 4.0 systems may involve the use
the concept of Industry 4.0, which but the person using them will. So, you
of sensors, computers, and communi-
refers to the integration of advanced might as well start using them.
cation networks to enable the real-time
technologies into manufacturing and
monitoring and control of physical AUTHORS
other industrial sectors to improve
systems. They may also involve the use of Johannes Vrana (Vrana GmbH, Germany),
productivity and competitiveness. Ripi Singh (Inspiring Next, USA), and
advanced data analysis techniques such
Ñ Smart NDE: This term refers to as AI and machine learning to improve ChatGPT
the use of advanced technologies the interpretation of NDE data. NDE 4.0 REFERENCES
such as sensors, AI, and machine systems are designed to improve the effi- 1Singh, R., V. Garg, and GPT-3. 2021.
learning to enable NDE systems to ciency, accuracy, and automation of NDE “Human Factors in NDE 4.0 Development
gather and analyze data in real-time, Decisions.” J Nondestruct Eval 40. https://
processes, and can be used in a variety doi.org/10.1007/s10921-021-00808-3
allowing them to make decisions of applications such as manufacturing, 2Singh, R., and V. Garg. 2022. “Can we
and respond to their environ- transportation, and energy. Collaborate with AI?” Mat Eval 80 (10).
ment without human intervention. 3Heaven, W.D. 2022. “ChatGPT is OpenAI’s
In summary, we generated enough valu-
Smart NDE systems can be used latest fix for GPT-3. It’s slick but still spews
able content to convince ourselves that we nonsense.” MIT Technology Review.
to improve the efficiency, accuracy,
have a third intellectual partner in creating 30 November 2022. https://www.tech
and automation of NDE processes. nologyreview.com/2022/11/30/1063878
lectures, proposals, papers, books, and
Ñ Cognitive NDE: This term refers to even this short column. This one is far
4The Sparrow Team. 2022. “Building
the use of AI and machine learning Safer Dialogue Agents.” DeepMind.

simpler to work with than the original 22 September 2022. https://www.
techniques to enable NDE systems study in 2021. deepmind.com/blog/building-safer-
to adapt and learn from their envi- dialogue-agents
ronment. Cognitive NDE involves
Outlook
the integration of AI and machine NDE Outlook focuses on possibility thinking
ChatGPT can certainly be used for
learning algorithms into NDE systems for NDT and NDE. Topics may include technology
learning, understanding things and trends, research in progress, or calls to action. To
to enable them to process and
concepts, and preparing writeups, in contribute, please contact Associate Technical Editor
analyze data in real-time, allowing
a manner that is much faster than a Ripi Singh at ripi@inspiringnext.com.
them to make decisions and respond
Google search. Of course, it needs some

2302 ME Feb New.indd 18 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Grow your knowledge. Grow your career.
WEBINARS REFRESHER COURSES ON DEMAND

Whether you’re an entry-level Let ASNT help you prepare for Access video recordings
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KNOWLEDGE TO GROW PROFESSIONALLY

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a Safer World!®license of this material to Mr Udom Meephaungpol.
ASNT grants non-exclusive, non-transferable
2302 ME Feb New.indd 19 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCANNER STANDARDSUPDATE|
ASTM E2884: STANDARD GUIDE FOR EDDY
CURRENT TESTING OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING
MATERIALS USING CONFORMABLE SENSOR
ARRAYS – UPDATES AND MODIFICATIONS
A new revision of ASTM E2884: Standard electrically conducting component, such presence of metallurgical or mechanical
Guide for Eddy Current Testing of as reinforced carbon–carbon composite discontinuities in the material, and the
Electrically Conducting Materials Using or polymer matrix composites with presence of geometric changes in the
Conformable Sensor Arrays was released carbon fibers. This guide applies to material, such as coating thickness, layer
in June 2022. As the latest and active planar as well as nonplanar materials with thickness, or gap thickness between
version, ASTM E2884-22 is in Vol. 03.04 and without insulating coating layers. layers, alters the measured impedance of
of the ASTM book of standards and was The new revision of the standard the eddy current sense elements.” This
developed by the E07.07 subcommittee undergoes a few major modifications. aspect caused other minor language
on the Electromagnetic Method. In the “Referenced Documents” section, revisions in Sections 4 and 5 of the stan-
ASTM E2884 covers the use of all the ASNT, AIA, ISO, and DOD hand- dard as well, to include the influence of
conformable eddy current sensor arrays book references have been removed geometrical alterations.
for the nondestructive examination of and only ASTM E543 (Specification for The other changes to this standard
electrically conducting materials for Agencies Performing Nondestructive since the last issue (E2884–17) that may
discontinuities and material quality. Testing) and E1316 (Terminology for impact the use of this standard are as
The discontinuities include surface Nondestructive Examinations) are refer- follows:
breaking and subsurface cracks and enced. ASTM E1316 has been recently Ñ Editorial revisions were made
pitting as well as near-surface and updated (please refer to the article throughout.
hidden-surface material loss. The material published in Materials Evaluation in
Ñ Added layer thickness to scope (in
quality includes coating or layer thick- August 2022 [Vol. 80, No. 8]), and the
1.1, 4.1, and 5.1) since the method
ness (layer thickness was added in the “Terminology” section of ASTM E2884
can be used for uncoated material
new version of the standard), electrical has been revised to refer to the new
layers as well as complex materials
conductivity, magnetic permeability, ASTM E1316 as well.
having multiple material layers.
surface roughness, and other properties The influence of geometric changes,
that vary with the electrical conductivity specifically due to using conformable Ñ Added specific reference to
or magnetic permeability. sensor arrays, was highlighted in the Terminology (E1316 Section C to
This guide is intended for use on measurement of impedance of the eddy Section 3). Removed several defi-
nonmagnetic and magnetic metals as current sense elements by the modifi- nitions for terms that now reside
well as composite materials with an cation in the following paragraph: “The in Terminology (E1316 Section C).
Removed previous Section 3.2
and moved remaining terms into
Section 3.1 since these terms are not
| SOCIETYNOTES
necessarily specific to this guide.
Ñ Section 5.2 was updated to
provide additional descriptions
for performance verification for
discontinuity-free materials, such
NEW CYBER INSURANCE
as layer thickness measurements.
In addition to comprehensive and affordable professional liability
insurance coverage, Alliant, the provider of ASNT’s insurance program, Ñ Section 6.2 was updated to be
now offers a standalone cyber liability policy for ASNT members. consistent with Policy P-10.
To learn more about how Alliant can reduce cyber liability risk and STANDARDS EDITOR
protect your business, visit asnt.alliant.com. Hossein Taheri, PhD: Georgia Southern
University, Statesboro, GA; htaheri
@georgiasouthern.edu

2302 ME Feb New.indd 20 1/23/23 7:36 AM

NOW AVAILABLE!
Individual ASNT NDT Handbook Chapters
Need the PT Handbook chapter on interpretations Nondestructive Testing
of indications for your staff or class? How about the Handbook Vol. 1: Liquid
chapter on radiation safety and personnel protection Penetrant Testing (PT)
from the RT Handbook? 15 chapters available | 0142
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2302 ME Feb New.indd 21 1/23/23 7:36 AM

2302 ME Feb New.indd 22 1/23/23 7:36 AM

PATENTSROUNDUP SCANNER |
| PARTICIPATE
NDE FOR AEROSPACE IN AMERICAN
APPLICATIONS NATIONAL
STANDARDS
In this issue, we discuss recent patents for technologies relevant for aerospace
DEVELOPMENT
applications. ASNT’s Standards Council (StC) develops
ASNT’s standards, including ASNT
CP-105: ASNT Standard Training Outlines
US9811900B2 data to applied stress and camera of Nondestructive Testing Personnel;
AUTOMATIC images and thereby map damage ANSI/ASNT CP-106: Nondestructive
DETECTION OF progression in the composite structure. Testing — Qualification and Certification
DEFECTS IN COMPOSITE Material failure can be predicted using of Personnel; ANSI/ASNT CP-189:
STRUCTURES USING a maintenance device based on the ASNT Standard for Qualification and
NDT METHODS damage progression, and necessary Certification of Nondestructive Testing
(Joseph W. Maresca, Jr., Wilhelmina C. control steps can be used to respond to Personnel; and ANSI/ASNT ILI-PQ: In-line
Leuschen, and Marissa L. Ammer)
a predicted failure. Inspection Personnel Qualification and
This patent describes a technique for Certification.
US9931827B2
automated processing of nondestructive
test data to detect the presence, spatial
STRUCTURAL REPAIR If you wish to join the StC and participate
location, and sizing of defects in different
HAVING OPTICAL in the development of American National
types of materials such as composites,
WITNESS AND METHOD Standards, contact StC Secretary Brian Frye
honeycombs relevant toward aerospace,
OF MONITORING at bfrye@asnt.org.
and other applications. The concept
REPAIR PERFORMANCE
(Gary E. Georgeson, Kenneth Harlan Griess,
relies on applying heat/cool sources in a Russell Lee Keller, and Everett A. Westerman) CALL FOR
region of interest and collecting infrared HANDBOOK
This patent describes a structural
images. Differences in IR image data sets CONTRIBUTORS
are indicative of defects such as disbonds repair technique utilizing optical
The technical editors for the forthcoming
or fluid ingress. Signal processing witness and electromagnetic energy. A
fourth edition of the Electromagnetic
steps for detection of defects include stress-sensitive fluorescent dye that is
Testing Handbook are looking for content
background noise cancellation using incorporated directly into a resin in an
contributors.
filters, exceedance, and thresholding adhesively bonded patch layer, whose
ET Level IIIs who are willing to share
techniques. fluorescence is a function of the local
their deep knowledge—from the most
stress/strain, is used as a visual moni-
US10605783B2
basic principles to the most current
toring approach. The ultrasound wave
techniques—are needed now to write and
SYSTEM AND METHOD physics to describe the integrated update content for this highly respected
FOR PROGRESSIVE power spectrum for a defect, along with handbook. Don’t miss out on this opportu-
DAMAGE MONITORING a method for calibration to estimate nity to make a lasting contribution to your
AND FAILURE EVENT flaw parameters such as flaw depth, is method’s body of knowledge and earn
PREDICTION IN A described. The technique can record recertification points.
COMPOSITE STRUCTURE different health conditions to recognize
(Joseph N. Zalameda, Eric R. Burke, partial structural failure or degradations To volunteer, please contact:
Michael R. Horne, and Eric I. Madaras)
such as baseline healthy images, delami- ▶ ET Handbook – Henry Sadek
This patent describes a system for moni- nation, and disbanding of patches. hsadek@eddyfi.com
toring damage progression in advanced
composite structures such as Kevlar For questions or additional information,
using a plurality of sensors including a please email ASNT Handbook Editor
Patents Roundup provides a review of recent Karen Balkin at kbalkin@asnt.org.
load sensor, acoustic emission sensors, patents of interest to the NDT community. If you’ve
a camera, and a monitoring device. The been granted a patent and would like to see it
sensors work in a coordinated manner to featured in an upcoming issue, please email Patents
automatically map the acoustic emission Editor Saptarshi Mukherjee at mukherjee5@llnl.gov.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 23 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCANNER NEWMEDIA |
NON-DESTRUCTIVE of evaluation, the conditions under which
TESTING AND it can occur, and the characteristics of
TESTABILITY OF potential defects. Additionally, it explores
MATERIALS AND the physical principles, technology,
STRUCTURES and current methods of nondestruc-
tive testing, both common and specific.
This manual also describes methods for
identifying factors that can deteriorate
measurements and distort analysis. It
also proposes solutions to these chal-
lenges, notably based on progress made
in phenomena modeling and inversion
methods. Finally, it deals with informa-
systematic analysis of modes of damage
tion post-processing (both of signals and
and morphology of damaged mate-
images) and presents a new approach
rial and compares the experiences of
called Recommandations de Conception
different industries to provide insights
basées sur des règles de Contrôle
into the most frequently encountered
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2302 ME Feb New.indd 27 1/23/23 7:36 AM

FEATURE NDTTUTORIAL |
PAUT OF CRA CLADDED PIPE
CIRCUMFERENTIAL DISSIMILAR WELDS
BY MUSTAFA GONULAL
Ultrasonic testing (UT) is a technical way of communicating with CRA clad pipes are generally manu-
materials, but what does that mean? To be able to understand this, factured as per API 5LD. The low-alloy
carbon steel pipe, which is the base
we should think about how people communicate with each other—by
material, conforms to API 5L, ASTM
talking. Humans have vocal cords in their throats, also known as vocal A106, and the like, and the clad material
folds, a band of highly elastic connective tissue. When someone wants conforms to ASTM A 240, B443, and
to talk, their brain sends a signal to the vocal fold, and after receiving the like, due to their excellent corrosion
the electrical signal, the folds start to vibrate and cause the air molecules resistance to corrosive environments
flowing around them vibrate as well. This vibration flows through the air such as inorganic acids, neutral salt,
alkaline media, and saltwater (ASTM
molecules to the ears of the other people, causing tiny bones within the
2002, 2015, 2019; API 2015). Clad coating
ear to vibrate. This mechanical vibration is converted into an electrical provides protection to the base material
signal by stimulation of the sensory cells in the ear and nerve impulses and does not allow the substance
sent to the brain. Through this complex conversion of electrical signal flowing inside of the pipe to degrade the
to vibration, and then vibration back to the electrical signal, two human base material. The CRA layer is metallur-
beings talk to each other. In general, the human ear can detect sounds gically bonded to the low-alloy carbon
steel base material by processes such
with frequencies between 20 and 20 000 Hz, which is called an audio
as hot rolling, co-extrusion, explosion
range. (Frequency means the number of vibrations against the unit bonding, or powder metallurgy.
time and is expressed in cycles per seconds). Frequencies below 20 Hz While joining two CRA cladded
are called infrasound and above 20 000 Hz are called ultrasound. The pipes to each other, generally a consum-
industrial application of ultrasound is the answer to the question, “How able that is compatible with the clad
can we talk to material?”, which forms the basis of UT. UT is widely used material is used. In this case, we used
a low-alloy carbon steel cladded with
as a nondestructive testing method to examine materials and welds, as
a corrosion-resistant alloy and welded
well as bondings between the materials. In this article, UT of dissimilar with a consumable that is compatible to
welds shall be discussed. that type of cladding alloy. Conventional
UT techniques alone cannot be used to
examine this welding due to the dissim-
Introduction materials having different acoustic ilar metal welding having an anisotropic
The propagation of mechanical vibra- impedance, and the loss of sound energy and inhomogeneous microstructure
tions through a material, called acoustic occurs due to the reflection, refraction, (Dijkstra 2012).
impedance, is a unique property of that diffraction, scattering, and absorption.
material. It describes how much resis- All of these events add up to the total Dissimilar Weld Metallurgy
tance an ultrasound beam encounters as loss of sound energy, and this is called A test pipe with API 5L X65 grade base
it travels through the material. Acoustic attenuation. The amount of attenuation material (API 2015) and cladded with
impedance is the product of microstruc- mainly depends on the microstructure Inconel alloy 625 was used to make a
ture, density, and velocity of the sound. of the material to be tested and the fre- girth weld mock-up. Two 14 in. diameter
This means that, if acoustic impedance quency of sound waves. pipe slices having a single-V groove were
is steady within the material and there is In this article, we examine corrosion- root welded by gas tungsten arc welding
not any major change, mechanical vibra- resistant alloy (CRA) clad pipe. CRA clad (GTAW)–consumable AWS A5.14 SFA/
tions flow through smoothly without any or lined pipe is composed of a conven- AWS ERNiCrMo-3 and then filled by
resistance. tional low-alloy steel pipe on the outside shielded metal arc welding (SMAW)–
However, materials in which the and a corrosion-resistant alloy layer on consumable SFA/AWS A5.11 ENiCrMo-3
sound speed is different generally have the inside surface. CRA clad steel pipes (AWS 2018a, 2018b). To imagine the dif-
different acoustic impedances. For are widely used in pipeline transpor- ference of chemical composition and
these kinds of mediums, the sound tation systems, chemical plants, petro- also microstructure of these dissimi-
wave strikes the interface between the leum, and natural gas industries. lar materials, it should be noted that

2302 ME Feb New.indd 28 1/23/23 7:36 AM

X65 has an iron content of more than anisotropic and inhomogeneous structure for an ultrasonic examination. There are
95%, while alloy 625 has limited iron at in the HAZ region. many obstacles on the sound path for an
maximum 5%. The fourth and fifth columns of ultrasonic wave to propagate.
A macro piece was prepared from Figure 1 show the fusion line between
that mock-up weld to examine the met- the low-alloy carbon steel and alloy 625 Ultrasonic Testing of Dissimilar Welds
allurgical microstructure. As it can be austenitic nickel weld region. Due to the Because of the aforementioned reasons,
seen from the top of Figure 1, the left and hardness and also the microstructure attenuation is the main problem in aniso-
right side of the test piece (black) are difference, the low-alloy carbon side and tropic microstructures. A sound wave
low-alloy X65 material, where the clad the nickel side of the macro test piece must pass through a weld fusion interface
and welding consumable (center) are should be etched in different solutions. between low-alloy carbon steel and high-
Inconel 625 nickel-chromium- Because of this, it is not possible to take nickel alloy. These two different materials
molybdenum-niobium alloy. a picture from both sides in the same have differing acoustic impedances, so
The bottom of Figure 1 depicts the position; therefore, they were separately when a sound wave strikes the weld inter-
micro test piece pictures. On the left hand etched and photographed as shown in face between two, it encounters a resis-
side, microstructure with 100×, 200×, and the fourth and fifth columns. tance to propagate to its normal way. The
500× magnifications of the base material The last column shows the Inconel weld fusion line behaves like a barrier. As
from top to bottom are presented in the 625 microstructure. In the bottom right a result, sound waves display several basic
first column, then the carbon steel to the box (under 500× magnification), the phenomena of physics:
heat affected zone (HAZ) transition can dendritic structure can be seen easily. Ñ Reflection: A wave encounters
be seen in the second column, and then Dendrites (i.e., columnar grains) are pre- an obstacle and some part of it is
the HAZ region is in the third column. dictive microstructure and very promi- reflected back.
This shows that the microstructure is nent in austenitic steel welds.
Ñ Refraction: A wave bends when it
homogeneous and isotropic in the base This macro-micro analysis of the
enters a medium through which it has
material, but it starts to change into an weld mock-up shows a difficult structure
a different speed.
API 5L X65 low-alloy Inconel 625 single V girth weld API 5L X65 low-alloy
pipe base material pipe base material
Clad material, Inconel 625 Clad material, Inconel 625
1. Carbon steel material 2. Carbon steel material - HAZ transition 3. Heat affected zone (HAZ) 4. Inconel 625 - Carbon steel fusion line 5. Inconel 625 - Carbon steel fusion line 6. Inconel 625 - Stainless steel
Inc. 625 HAZ Inc. 625 HAZ
200 μm 200 μm 200 μm 200 μm 200 μm 200 μm
100 μm 100 μm 100 μm 100 μm 100 μm 100 μm
40 μm 40 μm 40 μm 40 μm 40 μm 40 μm
Figure 1. Macro- and microstructure of CRA cladded low-alloy carbon steel pipe girth weld with Inconel 625 stainless consumable.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 29 1/23/23 7:36 AM

FEATURE NDTTUTORIAL|
Ñ Diffraction and scattering: Waves array ultrasonic testing (PAUT). In this In Figure 2, the effect on ultrasonic
bend when they pass around small technique, the probe is composed of waves is illustrated to a certain extent.
obstacles and spread out when they many small crystals, called a multicrystal A 32-element PAUT probe with 5 MHz
pass through small openings. or multielement probe. This means the frequency is used for the inspection of
Ñ Absorption: Some part of the waves is PAUT probe contains many conventional a dissimilar weld between two low-alloy
dampened within the structure. small ultrasonic probes within it. The carbon steel pipes with CRA cladding.
most fascinating aspect of PAUT is that Shear waves are used for this inspection,
In conventional UT, the test piece is you can manipulate the small wavefront but when the sound waves encounter
ultrasonically tested using a single crystal created by those small probes into a new the weld face, they behave as though
probe, which is called a single-element phase of focused ultrasound acoustic they are hitting a big barrier.
or monocrystal probe. This monocrys- waves with different beam-steering As a consequence, sound velocity
tal probe produces compression waves, abilities. is a function of the orientation of grains
which are also called longitudinal waves. with respect to the ultrasonic beam in
By using plexiglass wedges, one can divert TOFD Application for Dissimilar anisotropic material. Since neighboring
these compressional waves into the test Mock-Up Welds materials have different metallographic
piece with a fixed angle and at the same Another trial was performed with a time microstructures, as shown in Figure 1,
time convert the compressional wave of flight diffraction (TOFD) setup by the beams will meet different sound
into a shear wave, taking advantage of using 10 MHz, 3 mm diameter longitudi- velocities on their paths through the
the refraction feature of the physics of nal wave probes with a single crystal and material. So, on each boundary between
ultrasound. The ultrasonic sound beam working within a reciprocal setup of two grains, phenomena like reflection, refrac-
propagates within the test piece along probes, one of which is the transmitter tion, and wave mode conversion can
an acoustic axis with a single refracted and the other is the receiver. The micro- take place, leading to scatter, attenua-
angle as a shear wave, and the speed of structure is so attenuative that there is tion, and beam distortion. These effects
that wave depends on the properties of not a lateral wave discernable at all, as can, in extreme cases, be so dramatic
the medium through which it travels. This can be seen from Figure 3. Instead, many that ultrasonic waves may literally “die”
makes classical UT fruitless against the ghost signals (i.e., unwanted reflections) in coarse-grained austenitic metal.
attenuative structure of a dissimilar weld. and even wave mode conversions on the Shear wave has a velocity around
Ultrasonic waves disperse at the fusion face, which represents a boundary 3255 m/s within low-alloy carbon steel,
weld or weld/material interface due to connecting different sound velocities, and the longitudinal wave has a velocity
changes in the microstructure, grain can cause false indications. However, around 5920 m/s within the same
structure, and material anisotropy. These there are not any discontinuity signals medium. Refracted longitudinal waves
occur by means of the same ultrasonic within those false indications. Therefore, penetrate into the weld metal better
events such as reflection, refraction at TOFD is not an effective technique for than the conventional shear waves, but
the interface, scattering from dendritic the inspection of CRA welds. using a longitudinal wave probe is not
structures, and beam skewing due to enough for the inspection of the weld. To
anisotropy, as seen in Figure 2. PAUT Application for Dissimilar achieve the goal of ultrasonic inspection,
It is obvious that a single crystal Mock-Up Welds specially designed transmit-and-receive
pulse echo probe with shear wave The ultrasonic inspection of austenitic dual matrix array (DMA) probes demon-
velocity is not enough for the ultrasonic and anisotropic metallurgical structures strated better performance. Those DMA
vibrations to propagate within such has always been a great challenge due probes are new-generation probes,
a complicated and highly attenuative to the dispersion and attenuation of
microstructure. This also impairs the the ultrasonic beam in these materials. Figure 3. TOFD image of dissimilar weld.
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To solve this
problem, a special technique and probe
combination should be used, like phased
200 μm
Figure 2. Ultrasonic
dispersion on
dissimilar weld.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 30 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Figure 4.
Dual-matrix
array probe:
(a) 4 MHz
DMA probe;
(b) acoustic
Transmitter Receiver barrier
34 33
between
1 2
3 4 36 35 TRX and RCV
5 6 38 37 housing;
7 8 40 39 (c) plan view
9 10 42 41 of DMA probe
11 12 44 43 on test piece.
13 14 46 45
15 16 48 47
17 18 50 49 Acoustic
19 20 52 51 barrier
21 22 54 53
23 24 56 55
25 26 58 57
27 28 60 59
29 30 62 61
31 32 64 63
API 5L X65 CRA pipe

TRX RCV
Inconel 625 weld volume
API 5L X65 CRA pipe
having different frequencies and sizes focus depth and range of the probe to be generated starting from 30° sweeping
according to the configuration of the extended into the material, resulting in up to 89°, with 1° incremental steps. It is
test piece. They combine the benefits a higher SNR over a larger sound path impossible to use this angle range for a
of using longitudinal wave, S-scan view, (Olympus 2017). shear wave examination due to physical
and a pitch-catch inspection strategy law limitations.
(Olympus 2017). Examination Strategy As can be seen from the scan plan
The CRA pipe mock-up used for this DMA probes have some beneficial in Figure 5, only the first leg of the
examination has a 25.3 mm wall thick- features, one of which is the wide beam refracted longitudinal waves shall be
ness including the cladding. This thick- fan forming the S-scan. A scan plan used because the inside of the pipe has
ness can be considered a moderate-low should be generated to be able to make corrosion-resistant alloy (Inconel 625),
thickness for PAUT examination. We an examination strategy. As is shown in and reflected signals from the backwall
chose a 4 MHz DMA probe for this Figure 5, a sectorial scan focal law was are generally uninformative due to
thickness, as shown in Figure 4a. This
probe contains a 2 × 16 small element
Figure 5. Dual-matrix
configuration in each housing, shown as array PAUT scan plan
transmitter (TRX) and receiver (RCV). for CRA pipe weld.
Between the transmitter and receiver Probe
housing, there is an acoustic barrier

17.00 mm Wedge
(Figure 4b), which acts as an insula-
tion. This eliminates the requirement
for the wedge dampening material and
25.30 mm
25.30 mm
a large standoff. A total of 32 elements

for the transmitter and 32 elements for
the receiver were combined on a wedge Y
having an angle that allows the useful X

2302 ME Feb New.indd 31 1/23/23 7:36 AM

the metallurgical structure effect on a simulation for a lack of side wall fusion quite successful SNR view on the A-scan
the sound waves as shown in Figure 2. defect 3 mm in diameter. This will also screen for such an attenuative austenitic
Because there are also refracted shear be used later on for the calibration of dissimilar weld structure.
waves within the weld volume, the the sizing capability of the phased array Our next application is side drilled
ultrasound gates and range should be equipment using a dual matrix array holes (SDHs) opened on the center axis
arranged so that disturbance and inter- probe. of the Inconel 625 weld volume. There
ruption of unintended echoes should be A scan plan is prepared for this weld are three SDHs, the depths of which are
prevented. These echoes should be out examination, as seen in Figure 6a. The t/4, t/2, and 3t/4 from the outer diameter
of sight to get a clear informative and aim of this scan plan is to determine (OD) surface of the pipe, where t is the
assessable data image. whether or not a defect on the weld thickness of the material. Hole diame-
On the outside surface of the weld, volume can be detected using estab- ters are 3 mm, and they are machined
the surface should be smooth enough lished DMA probe focal laws. In Figure parallel to the surface. As requested by
to provide a better flow of the ultra- 6b, the red indication shows the FBH many standards, these holes are used
sound vibrations through the plane. on the S-scan view of the phased array for mainly sensitivity calibration of the
Additionally, to enable moving the probe equipment. This is a very successful system. The aim of calibration is to get
on top of the weld zone when needed, it result, because the sound path is starting echoes from targets at different sound
is necessary to grind the weld cap flush from low-alloy carbon steel, then passing path distances but adjust the gain level
as shown in the scan plan. It is assumed through the Inconel 625 stainless weld so that the tips of the echoes are at the
that there will be no access to the root volume, hitting the defect on the other same screen height level. This is called a
side of the weld during an actual job side of the weld fusion line, and then distance amplitude correction or curve
on site; that’s why the GTAW root weld reflecting back from the same path. The (DAC).
profile leaved as it is. actual depth of the FBH is 19 mm, as Figure 7a shows the scan plan. A
Consequently, when longitudinal shown on the figure, but the reading is 4 MHz DMA probe is placed on the
waves are used for inspection, a beam 17.09 mm on the screen of the equip- welded calibration block, which is a
angle range of up to 89° may be used. ment. Another significant advantage of cut-out of the weld mock-up. This shows
Thanks to Snell’s law, there is no first the DMA probe is the SNR. There is a the weld volume coverage of the sound
critical angle as may happen for inci-
dence while working with conventional
Figure 6. PAUT DMA
pulse-echo probes using shear wave. Probe S-scan view of a flat-
This provides us a full coverage of the bottom hole with
weld volume, without any additional 3 mm diameter: (a) scan
scanning. When longitudinal waves plan; (b) S-scan result.
Wedge
are used, above approximately 70°
they behave like outer surface creeping
waves. This feature helps us to find out
if the imperfections are on the surface or
just beneath. A combination of refracted
longitudinal waves and outside diameter
creeping waves provides 100% volu- 3 mm FBH
metric coverage of the weld. All beams
above approximately 70° are essentially 30º
propagating parallel to the surface and
challenging the rules of trigonometry, so
precision depth sizing may be distorted.
PAUT Examination Results on a

Dissimilar Weld Mock-Up
Pipe ends are beveled with a 30° angle
for weld preparation. After the weld is
completed, a flat bottom hole (FBH) is
opened from inside of the pipe through a
hole drilled by machining with an angle
of 30° to the inside surface, so that the
axis of this hole is exactly perpendicular
to the weld fusion line. This provides us

2302 ME Feb New.indd 32 1/23/23 7:36 AM

beam. SDHs are used due to their excel- Figure 7. PAUT
lent reflective features; they present Probe DMA S-scan view
the ideal surface for sound waves to be of side-drilled
holes with 3 mm
reflected, independent of the direction.
diameter: (a) scan
In Figure 7b, there are three SDHs well Wedge
plan; (b) S-scan
defined on the S-scan screen of the result.
PAUT equipment. Additionally, from the
color-coding feature of the image view,
holes at different depths have an equal
visual appearance, which indicates that
all of them have equal signal response.
They are equally spaced on the weld
center line axis in the S-scan view; the
position and shapes of the SDHs are not
distorted in the visualization of the data
on screen. Again, there is a reasonable
SNR, but do not forget the shear waves
present within the material during the
L-wave examination. So, some additional
signals may be seen due to the shear
waves.
The service of the pipe shall be sen-
sitive to fatigue and due to the service
requirement, the weld cap is grinded to
flush. Besides the service life require-
ment, flush grinding of the weld cap also
increases the effectiveness of the surface
waves. In this scan plan, as mentioned
earlier, longitudinal waves up to 89° are
used, and between 70° to 89°, L-waves
behave like creeping waves. Figure 8 Probe
depicts a small notch located on the
upper right toe of the weld cap, which
has a depth of 1 mm. The DMA probe 0.99 mm Wedge
caught this surface notch, as indicated
on the screenshot from the PAUT equip-
ment (Figure 8b). The notch image, indi-
cated in red on the S-scan view, gives an
25.30 mm
echo having an amplitude >100% of the

full screen height in the A-scan view. The
depth reading on the screen is 1.01 mm;
it is almost the same as the actual
value. The only disadvantage is that any
shallow notch on the other side of the
weld cannot be detected. That’s why the
30º
weld should be scanned from both sides
for full volume coverage of the weld and
the HAZ.
The root of the butt weld is the most
critical zone because there are fluids Figure 8. DMA
S-scan view of
inside the pipe that may be extremely
outer-diameter
corrosive for the base material. That’s surface notch with
why the root of the circumferential joint 1 mm height:
is welded by GTAW with ERNiCrMo-3 (a) scan plan;
(Inconel 625) consumable; this protects (b) S-scan result.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 33 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Figure 9. DMA Probe the pipe base material from lethal sub-
S-scan view of inner-
stances. Common weld defects encoun-
diameter surface
notch with 2 mm tered in this region are lack of penetra-
height: (a) scan plan; Wedge tion and lack of fusion, as well as defects
(b) S-scan result. that may be formed due to misalignment
problems formed during fitting. That’s
why the last target shall be an inside
diameter surface-connected notch in
the cladding that simulates any such
weld defects. The notch is shown as a
red target on the scan plan as shown in
Figure 9a. It is an electrical discharge
machined notch opened to a 2 mm
2.00 mm Weld root, ID surface notch depth from the inside surface.
In DMA, the S-scan view notch has
been detected and visualized by both the
top and bottom tip signals, which can be
differentiated separately. The measured
height of the notch on the PAUT equip-
ment screen is 2.27 mm. The diffraction
feature of the ultrasound at the top and
bottom end tips of the notch allows the
operator to evaluate the height size of
the defect. A higher-frequency probe
makes it easy to resolve the tip signals
from each other. On Figure 9b, there are
two indications in a row on the S-scan
view just on the weld root. These signals
make the defect sizing easy. On the
S-scan view, there are two horizontal
cursors; one is the red line put on the
top signal and the other is the green line
on the bottom signal. The difference
between these two lines gives the height
of the notch on the inside surface of the
pipe as 2.27 mm.
Conclusion
PAUT is a powerful NDE tool for exam-
ining welds for surface and subsurface
defects. It gives both the depth and
lateral position of the defect according to
the axis of weld from the data collected.
This information gives extra information
for evaluation to decide the type of the
defect (side wall lack of fusion, a lack
of penetration at root, a toe crack, etc.).
In addition, there is new software that
processes the collected data for simula-
tion of the indications within the weld
volume. However, TOFD was found to be
an ineffective technique for CRA welds
and is not applicable for this inspection.
Figure 10. Simulation of defects on evaluation software, polar view: (a) OD surface defects; In the mock-up test pipe, there were
(b) subsurface defects; (c) ID surface defects; (d) all defects embedded into one view. a total of 12 artificial defects embedded

2302 ME Feb New.indd 34 1/23/23 7:36 AM

into the weld: three were OD surface, strategy is the accumulation of all system ASTM. 2015. A240:A240M-15, Standard Speci-
fication for Chromium and Chromium-Nickel
three were ID surface, and the remaining parameters mentioned earlier, such Stainless Steel Plate, Sheet, and Strip for Pressure
six were volumetric subsurface defects. as probe frequency, focusing method, Vessels and for General Applications. West
A dual-matrix array PAUT probe with probe index, sweep angle step, angle Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.
4 MHz and 32 elements in both the range, velocity calibration, and voltage ASTM. 2019. ASTM B443-19, Standard
Specification for Nickel-Chromium-Molyb-
receiver and transmitter was used for the power. These parameters should be
denum-Columbium Alloy and Nickel-Chro-
ultrasonic examination of a mocked-up decided and adjusted before inspection. mium-Molybdenum-Silicon Alloy Plate, Sheet,
pipe-to-pipe girth butt weld with a single This increases the weld inspection per- and Strip. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM
International.
V-bevel. formance of the PAUT system.
As a result, all of the surface and It can be concluded that dissimilar AWS. 2018a. A5.14/A5.14M:2018 Specification
for Nickel and Nickel-Alloy Bare Welding Elec-
subsurface defects were detected and welds can be inspected with PAUT using trodes and Rods. Miami, FL: American Welding
sized successfully. The PAUT data sim- a dual-matrix array probe. The detection Society.
ulation view of the mock-up test weld and sizing capability of the system may AWS. 2018b. A5.11/A5.11M:2018 Specification
can be seen in Figure 10 in polar view. be increased by fine-tuning the setup for Nickel and Nickel Alloy Welding Electrodes
for Shielded Metal Arc Welding. Miami, FL:
It is obvious that the sizing capability parameters mentioned earlier. These are American Welding Society.
of a PAUT system is dependent on the the essential variables of the system, and
Dijkstra, Frits. 2012. Ultrasonic Testing of Auste-
probe frequency used; higher frequen- any change in one will affect the system nitic Welds and Other Coarse-grained, Aniso-
cies give more accurate results and also performance. That’s why readjustment tropic Materials. Applus RTD Technological
Center, September 2012.
increase the resolution. Trials were of the entire system from the first step to
made with a 2.25 MHz DMA probe on the end is required. DNV. 2021. DNV-ST-F101:2021 Submarine
pipeline systems. Høvik, Norway: DNV.
the same notch, but the tip signals could
AUTHOR ISO. 2012. ISO 9712:2012 Non-destructive testing -
not be separated and only one signal Qualification and certification of NDT personnel.
Mustafa Gonulal: CIMTAS - Quality Control, Ata
was discernable, which is not enough Mah. Sanayi Cad. No:52 Bursa Gemlik, 16600 Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization
for accurate sizing. Additionally, setup Turkey; mgonulal@cimtas.com for Standardization.
parameters such as the sweep angle ISO. 2017. ISO 22825:2017, Non-Destructive
CITATION Testing of Welds — Ultrasonic Testing — Testing
range used in S-scan, steering angle step, of Welds in Austenitic Steels and Nickel-Based
Materials Evaluation 81 (2): 28-35
and the probe scan index configured by https://doi.org/10.32548/2023.me-04287 Alloys. Geneva, Switzerland: International Orga-
the software affects the detection and ©2023 American Society for Nondestructive nization for Standardization.
sizing capability of the system. Focusing Testing Olympus. 2017. Advances in Phased Array Ultra-
the PAUT beam at the given true depth sonic Technology Applications. Advanced Prac-
REFERENCES tical NDT Series. 2nd printing. Waltham, MA:
or sound path also provides a better res- API. 2015. API SPEC 5LD: CRA Clad or Lined Olympus.
olution and definition of the indication. Steel Pipe. 4th edition. Washington, D.C.:
To increase the sizing and detection American Petroleum Institute.
capability of the system, the inspec- ASTM. 2002. ASTM A106-02a, Standard Spec-
ification for Seamless Carbon Steel Pipe for
tion strategy should be well customized High-Temperature Service. West Conshohocken,
before data collection. This inspection PA: ASTM International.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 35 1/23/23 7:36 AM

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|
ME TECHNICALPAPER
ACOUSTIC PATH FILTERING FOR IMPROVED

MULTIMODE TOTAL FOCUSING METHOD
INSPECTION
BENOIT LEPAGE * AND GUILLAUME PAINCHAUD-APRIL †
A B S T R AC T Introduction
Total focusing method (TFM) is an ultrasonic testing A recurring challenge in ultrasonic inspection is to isolate
signals from a given acoustic path to enable the interpreta-
(UT) technique that provides nondestructive testing tion of said signals and, with recent instrumentation, produce
(NDT) inspectors with new imaging modes, enabling an image representative of the inspected component and
more accurate detection, sizing, and representation of any discontinuities that are present within it. For angle beam
phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) and conventional ultra-
challenging defects. While TFM may offer convenient, sonic testing (UT), most mode converted signals are removed
nearly true-to-geometry imagery as the inspection by limiting the inspection to the T-wave (transverse or shear
result, it is often detrimentally affected by mode wave) mode, as discussed by Duxbury (2013). This solution,
however, can only be applied by constraining the whole ultra-
conversion artifacts. Current standards, such as ASME sonic beam above the L-wave (longitudinal or pressure wave)
Section V, place the burden on the inspector to explain critical angle, which, in turn, limits the field of application of
the origins of those artifacts, impacting the productivity ultrasonic inspection.
This limitation quickly becomes evident for total focusing
and reliability of the inspection. A method enabling method (TFM) inspection, which typically uses large apertures
direct control of the ultrasonic wave propagation to obtain sharper focusing over large field of view images that
modes—that is, transverse wave (T) or longitudinal are not limited by the beam angle as well as multiple propaga-
tion modes, including those (such as LL-T) that rely on mode
wave (L)—through each interface of the acoustic path conversion.
is proposed and evaluated in this paper. This control Previous work illustrates that using only subapertures of the
is achieved after the full matrix capture acquisition full matrix capture (FMC) can sometimes result in an improved
SNR for TFM images processed using the whole FMC, but it
by modulating, according to the desired propagation only applies to the specific case of the LL-T acoustic path for
mode, the gain applied on the individual paths within weld inspection (Long et al. 2010). For this method, slit aper-
the summation process. This leads to the formation of tures are custom designed according to the expected propaga-
tion path for a few defect positions, defect angles, and beam
a Path-Filtered Total Focusing Method image. Empirical angles.
results on various use cases show considerable This paper describes a generalized method to manage
improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio through the aperture selection and apodization parameters at the indi-
vidual voxel level for each mode. This method enables break-
almost complete elimination of signals originating through TFM image quality through the filtering of undesirable
from undesired paths. mode conversion at each interface. Contrary to the slit aperture
method of Long et al. (2010), the new method herein is not
KEYWORDS: TFM, artifact, imaging, ultrasonic, filtering, constrained by predefined defect position and orientation. It
multimode is also applicable to any geometry (interfaces and probe) and
propagation mode.
Principles and Methods

The basic principle that will be described and demonstrated
in this paper relies on the ability, for imaging based on FMC
* Evident Canada Inc., Quebec, Canada; benoit.lepage@olympus.com data, to individually configure propagation paths to enable the
† Evident Canada Inc., Quebec, Canada; guillaume.painchaud-april evaluation of each individual imaged voxel in transmission
@olympus.com
and reception. The image is preferably formed through TFM
Materials Evaluation 81 (2): 38–45 beamforming, whereas data acquisition can alternatively rely
https://doi.org/10.32548/2023.me-04279
©2023 American Society for Nondestructive Testing on FMC or virtual sources (VS). Practically, as demonstrated

2302 ME Feb New.indd 38 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Wedge Figure 1. Illustrating the x, y, z axis
Transducer elements
system and typical positioning of
the imaging plane in angle beam
TFM imaging configuration. A more
is complex configuration—for example,
X-ax with a matrix probe—could produce
a TFM voxel in an imaging volume
instead of a plane.
Y-axis
Z-axis
Imaging plane TFM voxel
in previous work dealing with element directivity (Trots et al. The echo transmittance curves for each interface, as
2011), controlling the TFM formation path can be achieved illustrated for reference in Figure 2 for the Rexolite (wedge
through the application of pre-summation weights as in material) to steel interface, constitute the starting point in
Equation 1: setting a suitable relationship between the weighting factor and
the incident angles on each interface.
M N For example, under the conditions presented in
(1) TFM voxel(x, y, z)= ∑∑ (x, y, z)Smn
Wn (x, y, z)Wm (x, y, z) Figure 2, assuming for simplicity a binary (0 or 1) weighting
m=1 n=1
factor set to block all L waves and let through most T waves,
Whereas Equation 1 describes the application of the would result in blocking all incident angles lower than 23.7°
method in tridimensional space, examples and demonstrations (L-wave critical angle) and larger than 46° (T-wave critical
in this paper will be made in the case of an angle beam inspec- angle). Resulting paths leading to the formation of a TFM
tion that lies in the y,z plane, as shown in Figure 1. Also, it voxel in a TT-T imaging configuration are shown in Figure 3
must be understood that the sampled signal Snm can be in the after the application of this method. Note that the reflection
time domain analytic (complex) form, or as a real-valued time on the backwall of the part is also controlled to restrict propa-
series. As for the transmit elements N and receive elements gation to a T wave after the reflection through the application
M, they can refer to the same physical elements, as in the
examples shown in this paper, or to different elements, as for 0.25
VS imaging and for pitch-catch probe configurations.
Practically, to filter out undesired propagation modes con-
tributing to the formation of a given TFM voxel, the acoustic 0.2
path from each transmit or receive element is evaluated
throughout each of the interfaces and down to the voxel.
Echo transmittance
0.15
The evaluation criteria are configured based on the incident
angle of the said acoustic path on each of the interfaces and
a weighting factor corresponding to the desired propagation 0.1
mode. When several interfaces are on the acoustic path, as
is the case for the Figure 3b transmission path, the resulting
weights Wn and Wm are provided by Equations 2 and 3, respec- 0.05
tively, where W′ refers to the weight of individual interfaces
and W′i=0 can be set to 1 or, alternatively, provide elements
directivity apodization as demonstrated by Trots et al. (2011) (i 0
10 20 30 40 50
= 0 being the probe interface). Incident angle (degree)
Figure 2. Echo transmittance curve for the roundtrip (pulse-echo) pressure

(2) Wni(x, y, z)= W  ′niWni−1
back at the transducer in a Rexolite (νL = 2330 m/s) to steel (νL = 5800 m/s,
νT = 3240 m/s) interface as a function of the incident angle on the steel
( 3) Wmi(x, y, z)= W′miWmi−1 interface from the Rexolite. The blue dashed line is the L-wave critical
angle, whereas the red dashed line is the T-wave critical angle.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 39 1/23/23 7:36 AM

|
ME TOTALFOCUSINGMETHOD
–0.03 f another weighting factor suitable for the T

→ T reflection
while constraining T
→ Lmode conversion (example shown
–0.02
Z-direction (mm)
Paths below the in Figure 4f).
–0.01 L wave critical angle To optimize image quality and prevent sidelobe formation
(filtered out)
0.00 following the application of a binary weight factor, a preferred
approach is to apply weights as smooth apodization windows
0.01 TFM voxel
defined according to knowledge of the critical angles. The
0.02 specific apodization window design that provides the results
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 presented in this paper is shown in Figure 4.
Y-direction (mm)
–0.03 Results and Discussion
This section presents the experimental setup and TFM
–0.02
Z-direction (mm)
image reconstruction examples before and after apodization.

Paths below the
–0.01 L wave critical angle In addition, it also discusses the Path-Filtered Total Focusing
(filtered out)
0.00 Method (PF-TFM) algorithm performance results.
0.01 TFM voxel Test Configuration for the Experimental Results

0.02 Presented
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 FMC data that were acquired on a steel block presenting
Y-direction (mm) a natural crack are used to demonstrate the performance
of the PF-TFM algorithm. The testing setup is shown, and
Figure 3. Illustration of the active acoustic paths for the formation of
details on the probe, wedge, and test block are given in
a single TFM voxel in angle beam self-tandem (TT-T): (a) reception;
(b) transmission. In this figure, the solid lines illustrate active paths Figure 5. The testing instrumentation used is a customized
(corresponding weights are set to 1), and dotted lines represent version of an acquisition unit that provides elementary
filtered-out paths (corresponding weights are set to 0). A-scan access.
1.0 1.0 Figure 4. Illustration of the

apodization windows applied
Weighting factor
Weighting factor
in various conditions derived

L Rexolite to from knowledge of the critical
0.5 0.5 L steel L Rexolite to
L Rexolite to L steel critical angle T steel angles: (a) transmission
critical angle critical angle from Rexolite L wave to steel
L wave; (b) transmission from
0.0 0.0 Rexolite L wave to steel T wave;
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80 (c) reflection from steel L wave
to steel L wave; (d) reflection
Incident angle (degree) Incident angle (degree)
from steel L wave to steel T wave;
(e) reflection from steel T wave
1.0 1.0
to steel L wave; and (f) reflection
from steel T wave to steel T wave.
Weighting factor
Weighitng factor
0.8 0.8
0.6 0.6
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80
1.0 1.0
Weighting factor
Weighting factor
0.5 T steel to L steel 0.5

critical angle T steel to L steel
critical angle
0.0 0.0
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80

2302 ME Feb New.indd 40 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Figure 5. Illustration of the hardware configuration
used to acquire data in this study. The probe is
a 5 MHz linear array probe with 32 elements,
32 × 10 mm total active aperture, 1 mm pitch, and
10 mm elevation. The wedge is a standard wedge
for an angle beam phased-array probe (normal
scan, 55° shear wave), and the part is a 25 mm
thick steel plate containing a natural vertical
crack from the bottom of the part up to 68% of
the thickness. The reference index offset distance
is 9 mm from the crack position to the tip of the
Deep natural crack wedge.
on 68% of thickness
9 mm index offset
Figure 6. Illustration of imaging

artifacts for two different PAUT
configurations. Both are pulse-
1 echo sector scans from 35° to
Crack tip 75°, with the 40° beam shown
Crack tip
as a blue line. Artifacts 1 to 5 are
1 Corner trap evidenced by their presence at
different positions (i.e., artifact
Corner trap position depends on focal laws)
3
2 on the scan: (a) with a 16-element
5
2 aperture and 50 mm focal depth;
(b) with a 32-element aperture and
5 50 mm focal depth.
44
4
Unless otherwise specified, data were acquired with near-field effects. It is therefore reasonable to assume that arti-
the probe and wedge at the physical position relative to the facts 1 to 5 are generated by the L-wave acoustic path below the
natural crack described in Figure 5. Other positioning refers shear wave critical angle.
to movement relative to this reference position (e.g., –8 mm Figure 7 illustrates TFM results using the same physical
refers to the wedge being moved from the 9 mm index offset configuration as the PAUT (TT and TT-TT) plus new imaging
to 1 mm index offset). As for the TFM data positioning in the modes possible with FMC/TFM (TT-T and LL-T). We can see
(y,z) inspection plane, y = 0 refers to the probe’s first element, that artifacts 1 to 5 are all found on TFM images (a) and (b)
whereas z = 0 refers to the surface of the part. Also note that all and that the new artifacts 6 to 9 are generated on the TT-T (c)
TFM images presented in this report use the same color scale. and LL-T (d) mode images.
Appearance of Mode Conversion Artifacts on Standard Illustrating the Performance of the PF-TFM Algorithm
TFM and PAUT on the Reference Data Set
First, we will evaluate how signals originating from acoustic A direct application of the apodization windows in
paths different from the desired imaging mode generate arti- Figure 4 yields, as shown in Figure 8, significant artifact
facts on conventional phased array imaging by referring to removal improvement for all transverse wave (or shear wave)
the acquisition images (Figure 6) taken on the test block in based imaging modes (TT, TT-T, and TT-TT) for images
Figure 5. It can readily be seen that configuration (a) could produced with the PF-TFM algorithm.
be almost artifact-free should the angular range be restricted The decreased performance of the PF-TFM algorithm on
to 40° to 75° (instead of the current 35° to 75° range). For con- the LL-T mode on artifact #9 can be easily explained by the
figuration (b), we see that the large aperture generates more overlapping presence of L and T waves below the critical L
artifacts, which could be attributed to an acoustic field angular angle (as shown in Figure 2). To address this situation and
range that is much larger than the 35° to 75° target as well as demonstrate the flexibility of the method, a new apodization

2302 ME Feb New.indd 41 1/23/23 7:36 AM

|
0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
Crack tip 4
3
0.01 0.01
0.02 1 0.02 5
2
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08

Y-direction (mm) Y-direction (mm)
0.00 8 0.00
7
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01 0.01
6 9
0.02 0.02
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
Figure 7. Artifacts produced on different TFM imaging modes for the reference configuration: (a) TT; (b) TT-TT; (c) TT-T; and (d) LL-T. The Y-direction
corresponds to relative positioning of the TFM imaging voxels relative to the first probe element position. The probe positioning for these TFM
images is the same as for Figure 6.
0.00 0.00
4
Crack tip
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01 0.01
5
0.02 0.02 Corner
trap
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08

0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Crack
Z-direction (mm)
specular
0.01 0.01
Crack
0.02 specular 9
0.02
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08

Figure 8. PF-TFM based on apodization windows described in Figure 4 on different TFM imaging modes for the reference configuration: (a) TT;
(b) TT-TT; (c) TT-T; and (d) LL-T.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 42 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Weighting factor 1.0
0.5
0.0
0 20 40 60 80 0.00
Incident angle (degree)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01
Crack
0.02 specular
0.25
Default window
0.2 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08

Y-direction (mm)
Echo transmittance
0.15
Narrow window Rejected
L waves
0.1 Figure 9. Narrowed angular range
apodization window: (a) narrow Rexolite
Rejected to L-wave apodization windows (the
0.05 T waves
solid line is applied instead of the
former dashed line); (b) the resulting
0 PF-TFM image; (c) the echo transmittance
0 10 20 30 40 50 rationale behind the narrow window
Incident angle (degree) Rexolite to L-wave definition.
window (shown in Figure 9) with a narrowed angular range is TA BLE 1
applied to the LL-T image processing. This “narrow” apodiza- Summary of PF-TFM performance versus standard
tion window design will be used for LL-T results in the follow- TFM
ing sections.
T waves only
LL-T mode
(TT, TT-TT, TT-T)
Quantified Performance and Evaluating the Impact of
Median flaw signal loss (dB) 0.8 4.3
the Effective Field of View
The objective of the PF-TFM algorithm is to reduce detrimental Median SNR increase (dB) 23.3 8.5
artifacts and noise emanating from acoustic paths other than Minimum SNR increase (dB) 6.1 0.8
the path of interest. Accordingly, we wanted to quantitively
evaluate the performance of the algorithm with respect to both
the artifact-filtering performance and the ability to leave useful The results for the whole data set are illustrated in
signals intact. The latter is of particular importance should we Figure 11 and summarized in Table 1. It can readily be observed
want to use the model-based Acoustic Influence Map (Lepage that PF-TFM is extremely effective on all T-wave only modes,
et al. 2020) for scan plan assistance. achieving both dramatic SNR improvement (median 23.3 dB)
Experimental measurements were made on several probe and low impact on the flaw signal of interest (the maximum
positions, starting from the Figure 5 reference, for all artifact recorded loss on the defect is 5.6 dB on the crack tip at
features (1 to 9) and flaw features (tip, corner trap, and specular −40 mm probe position). As for the LL-T mode, even if flaw
reflection) described in Figures 7 and 8. Amplitudes are signals are visibly affected by the filtering, the median 8.5 dB
measured on the standard TFM and the PF-TFM at expected SNR improvement could still be very interesting for the deploy-
locations of the features on both sets of images. An example ment of this type of acoustic path.
is shown in Figure 10 for measurements of artifact 8 using the
TT-T mode. The narrow apodization window of Figure 9 is
applied to the LL-T mode.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 43 1/23/23 7:36 AM

|
Figure 10. 0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
Artifact 8 automated
measurement box 0.01 0.01
at various probe +8 mm
positions relative 0.02 0.02
to the reference:
(a) standard TFM; 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
(b) PF-TFM. The Y-direction (mm) Y-direction (mm)
“reference position”
is the position 0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
illustrated in Figure
5 where the crack 0.01 Reference 0.01
is located at 9 mm position
from the tip of the 0.02 0.02
wedge.
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01 0.01
–8 mm
0.02 0.02
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01 –16 mm 0.01
0.02 0.02
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01 0.01
–24 mm
0.02 0.02
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01 0.01
–32 mm
0.02 0.02
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
0.00 0.00
Z-direction (mm)
Z-direction (mm)
0.01 0.01
–40 mm
0.02 0.02
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
Probe position

2302 ME Feb New.indd 44 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Legend Legend
1 - TFM 10 2 - TFM
–10
1 - TFM PF 2 - TFM_PF
3 - TFM
Amplitude relative to 100% FSH (dB)

Crack_tip-TFM
–15 0 3 - TFM_PF
Crack_tip-TFM_PF
4 - TFM
–20 –10 4 - TFM_PF
5 - TFM
5 - TFM_PF
–25 –20 Corner trap - TFM
Corner trap - TFM_PF
–30 –30
–35 –40
–40 –50
–45
–60
+8 0 –8 –16 –24 –32 –40 +8 0 –8 –16 –24 –32 –40
Probe position (mm) Probe position (mm)
10 Legend –5 Legend
6 - TFM 9 - TFM
9 - TFM_PF
6 - TFM_PF
0 Amplitude relative to 100% FSH (dB)
7 - TFM –10 Specular - TFM
7 - TFM_PF Specular - TFM_PF
–10 8 - TFM
8 - TFM_PF
Specular - TFM –15
–20 Specular - TFM_PF
–30 –20
–40
–25
–50
–30
–60
+8 0 –8 –16 –24 –32 –40 +8 0 –8 –16 –24 –32 –40

Probe position (mm) Probe position (mm)
Figure 11. Evaluation of the PF-TFM algorithm’s performance on all tagged indications for the four imaging modes under evaluation: (a) TT;
(b) TT-TT; (c) TT-T; and (d) LL-T.
Conclusions are both simultaneously present below the L-wave critical

A novel method called Path-Filtered TFM, or PF-TFM, was angle. Overall, this new method is very promising as it appears
evaluated for the elimination of irrelevant signal artifacts ema- to provide a reliable and predictable way of improving image
nating from acoustic paths other than the desired ones in TFM quality for NDT applications. Interestingly, the method is also
imaging. Mode propagation control is achieved post FMC conceptually very flexible as it could be adapted to complex
acquisition by modulating, according to the desired propaga- shapes and 3D beamforming.
tion mode, the gain applied on the individual paths within the
REFERENCES
image formation summation process. The algorithm has been
Duxbury, D. 2013. “Calibration and Control of Advanced Ultrasonic Array
tested on nine different artifacts and four different acoustic Technology.” PhD diss. Imperial College London.
paths, including TT, TT-TT, TT-T, and LL-T. In all test situations, Lepage, B., C.-H. Kwan, and G. Painchaud-April. 2020. “TFM Acoustic
PF-TFM did result in an improved SNR compared to standard Influence Map.” Quality Magazine, 8 February 2020, qualitymag.com/arti-
TFM. For acoustic paths solely based on the propagation of T cles/95924-tfm-acoustic-influence-map.
waves, the algorithm is extremely efficient with a median SNR Long, R., P. Cawley, and J. Russell. 2010. “Improved Phased Array Mode
Conversion Inspections Using Variable Split Aperture Processing.” 8th
improvement of 23.3 dB. As for acoustic paths that include
International Conference on NDE in Relation to Structural Integrity for
some L-wave components, such as the LL-T path evaluated, Nuclear and Pressurised Components (JRC-NDE 2010). Berlin, Germany.
the algorithm still shows considerable potential as illustrated Trots, I., A. Nowicki, M. Lewandowski, and Y. Tasinkevych. 2011.
by the median 8.5 dB SNR improvement; however, the con- “Synthetic Aperture Method in Ultrasound Imaging.” In Ultrasound
figuration is more complex because the T- and L-wave modes Imaging, ed. Masayuki Tanabe. (London: IntechOpen, 2011). https://doi.
org/10.5772/653.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 45 1/23/23 7:36 AM

|
ME FELLOWSHIPPAPER
INVESTIGATION OF SOFT ELASTOMERIC

CAPACITOR FOR THE MONITORING OF
LARGE ANGULAR MOTIONS
HAN LIU * , SIMON LAFLAMME †‡ , SDIQ ANWAR TAHER § , JONG-HYUN JEONG ** , JIAN LI § , CAROLINE BENNETT § ,
WILLIAM N. COLLINS § , DAVID J. EISENMANN †† , AUSTIN DOWNEY ‡‡§§ , PAUL ZIEHL ‡‡§§ , AND HONGKI JO **
A B S T R AC T Introduction
Angular motion measurement using commercial sensing The angular motion of an object is widely defined as the com-
bination of translational, oscillatory, and rotational motion
technologies can be challenging due to the nonlinearity (Davidovits 2018). The simultaneous detection and monitor-
of the motion and the combination of translational, ing of angular motion plays a significant role in the determi-
oscillatory, and rotational behaviors. Recent advances in nation of the deflective shape and permits estimation and
diagnosis of engineering structures. For example, monitoring
hyperelastic and self-sensing materials have facilitated the angular motion at a weld could be used in estimating
the development of flexible electronics, enabling robust fatigue susceptibility and planning of maintenance actions.
and cost-effective angular motion sensing systems. The Conventional methods for angular motion sensing mainly
rely on mechanical systems combined with various velocity
authors have recently proposed a flexible strain sensor and displacement transducers and reflective sensors (e.g.,
termed corrugated soft elastomeric capacitor (cSEC). The retro-reflective and photo-reflective sensors). They can be
cSEC is a thin-film, ultra-compliant, and scalable sensor expensive, time-consuming, and labor-intensive to apply in the
field (Algrain and Saniie 1991; Peña Arellano et al. 2013; Zhang
that transduces geometric variations into a measurable and Menq 1999; Penning et al. 2005).
change in capacitance. It is constituted by layering two A solution is to use thin-film devices, which have recently
conductive plates sandwiching a dielectric that is surface- gained popularity with advances in materials and flexible elec-
tronics. Numerous thin-film sensors have been proposed in lit-
corrugated. In this paper, we study the use of the cSEC erature in the form of flexible electronics based on capacitance
for angular motion sensing of a free rotational hinge, in (Guo et al. 2019; Yang et al. 2019), resistance (Mu et al. 2018;
which the cSEC was adhered onto the rotating area of Shao et al. 2021), piezoelectrics/triboelectrics (Chowdhury et
al. 2019; Liu, J. et al. 2021), and transistance (Viola et al. 2018;
the hinge subjected to an axial displacement generating Wang et al. 2020) to measure strain (Qu et al. 2020; Sun et al.
clockwise and counterclockwise angular rotations. 2020), stress (Gao et al. 2019; Gowthaman et al. 2019), pressure
(Tannarana et al. 2020; Yu et al. 2021), temperature (Liu, Q. et
KEYWORDS: flexible strain gauge, angular motion sensing, al. 2018; Liu, G. et al. 2019), and so on.
bending strain, complex geometry, out-of-plane deformation, Compared to off-the-shelf sensors (e.g., optimal encoder,
strain monitoring, structural health monitoring tiltmeters), a critical advantage of flexible sensors is in their
mechanical compliance, which allows a deployment over
complex and irregular geometries such as rugged surface,
corners, and welds. Of interest here is the measurement of
* Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State angular motion, where the sensor is allowed to fold along with
University, Ames, IA, 50010, USA; liuhan@iastate.edu; 1-515-294-2140
† Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State the motion. Examples of such technologies include a graphene
University, Ames, IA, 50010, USA sensor fabricated by introducing liquid metal into microfluidic
‡ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University,
Ames, IA, 50010, USA channels (Jiao et al. 2016), a soft-squishy sensor fabricated by
§ Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, The
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
embedding flexible wires in a silicone elastomer (Prituja et
** Department of Civil, Architectural Engineering and Mechanics, The University al. 2018), a graphene platelet (GnP) and multi-walled carbon
of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
†† Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, nanotube (MWCNT)-based film strain sensor (Lu et al. 2019),
Ames, IA, 50010, USA a thin film created by arranging planar coils in a cylindrical
‡‡ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina,
Columbia, SC, 29208, USA pattern (Anandan et al. 2018), and a self-powered sensor fabri-
§§ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South
Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
cated by integrating a stack of magnets and coils into a flexible
tube (Askari et al. 2018).
Materials Evaluation 81 (2): 46–51 Our group has recently proposed a corrugated soft elas-
https://doi.org/10.32548/2023.me-04294
©2023 American Society for Nondestructive Testing tomeric capacitor (cSEC) that is a thin-film, flexible, and

2302 ME Feb New.indd 46 1/23/23 7:36 AM

ultra-compliant sensor creating a parallel plate capacitor grid-patterned cSEC with a sensing area of 76 cm2. The con-
through a corrugated dielectric layer sandwiched between two sistency and uniformity of the sensors is ensured through the
conductive plates (Liu, H. et al. 2020b). The cSEC is capable measurement of geometric (e.g., material thickness at several
of transducing mechanical strain into a measurable change in points) and electrical (e.g., initial capacitance of the sensor,
capacitance. Prior work showed sensing signal linearity up to resistance of the electrodes) properties.
40% strain, and demonstrated the technology for various appli-
cations including fatigue crack monitoring on structural steel Electromechanical Model under Angular Motion
component (Liu, H. et al. 2021a; 2021b), and stress evaluation A particular feature of the cSEC is its ability to transduce strain
in biological tissues (Liu, H. et al. 2020a; 2021c). Its dynamic into a measurable change in capacitance, which enables
behavior has been characterized up to 40 Hz (Laflamme et al. the measurement of additive in-plane strain (x-y plane in
2015). Figure 1b) under plane-stress. Assuming a low measurement
In this paper, we investigate the use of the cSEC for mea- frequency (< 1 kHz), the cSEC can be modeled as a non-lossy
suring large angular motions. This is done by deploying the capacitor with the initial capacitance C0 derived from a parallel
cSEC onto the rotating portion of a free rotational hinge sub- plate capacitor:
jected to angular rotation between 0° and ±60° in a static
regime. An extended electromechanical model is proposed and ( 1) C0 = e0erA
_
h
verified using finite element model (FEM) and experimental
data. where
e0 = 8.854 pF/m is the vacuum permittivity,
Background er is the relative permittivity,
This section provides a background on the textured SEC tech- h is the thickness of the dielectric, and
nology, followed by a derivation of an extended electrome- A is the electrode area of length l and width w as annotated
chanical model adopted for SEC’s capacitance response under in Figure 1b.
bending strain deformation.
To derive the electromechanical behavior under angular
Corrugated SEC Technology motion, consider a small unit of the cSEC of initial length l,
The fabrication process along with the sensing principle of width w, and thickness h, as shown in Figure 2a. The unit is
non-corrugated SEC is documented in detail in Laflamme et assumed to be small enough such that strain is distributed uni-
al. (2013), and that of the corrugated version (cSEC) in Liu et formly. By applying a uniaxial stretch along the y-direction, the
al. (2020b). Briefly, the dielectric of an SEC is fabricated using small unit deforms to length l′, width w ′, and thickness h′. The
a styrene-co-ethylene-co-butylene-co-styrene (SEBS) block relative change in capacitance (∆C/C0) of the unit under defor-
co-polymer matrix filled with PDMS-coated titania (TiO2), and mation becomes:
the conductive plates using the same SEBS matrix but filled ′ A
C = C1− C0
_ e 0er(A_ _
h′ − h ) ′h − Ah′
with carbon black particles. The corrugated surface of the (2) ∆
_ = _ = A_
C0 C
0 e0erA_h Ah′
dielectric layer is created by drop-casting the SEBS compos-
ite solution into a grooved steel mold and peeling it off after where
drying, after which the electrode solution is painted onto both ∆C is the change in capacitance,
surfaces and allowed to dry. The electrical connections to the C1 is the capacitance under deformation, and
data acquisition system (DAQ) are created using copper tabs A = lw and A′ = l′w′ are the initial and deformed electrode
adhered onto the conductive layers. Figure 1a is a picture of a areas, respectively.
εz Figure 1. The corrugated soft

elastomeric capacitor (cSEC):
εx (a) picture of a 76 × 76 mm
εy grid-patterned cSEC; and
l (b) schematic of thickness
Corrugation
h and electrode area l × w
(black layer).
h
Electrode
Copper contacts
Dielectric

2302 ME Feb New.indd 47 1/23/23 7:36 AM

|
ME ANGULARMOTIONSENSING
86 mm
z
h
h’
76 mm
100 mm
l’
w l
w’
x
8 mm
Figure 2. Schematics: (a) single mesh element of the sensor; (b) free rotational hinge with cSEC.
SYNTHETIC MEASUREMENTS THROUGH FEM

Substituting A and A′ into Equation 2 yields: Synthetic cSEC measurements are produced through FEM sim-
ulations by computing local changes in the sensor geometry.
( 3) ∆
_ l′w′h − lwh′
C = _ Suppose the sensor is meshed using a total of P tetrahedrons
C
0 lwh′
(Figure 2b) with each tetrahedron subdivided into Q cuboids
Taking l′ = (1 + εx)l, w′ = (1 + εy)w, and h′ = (1 + εz)h, (Figure 2a). The capacitance of each mesh element can be
Equation 3 becomes: written as:
1 + εx)(1 + εy)
C = (____________ Cp,q = 1 + εp,q 2 − 1 − νp,q * εp,q 2 − 1 = Ap,q
( 4) ∆
_
1 + ε
− 1 (9) ∆_ ( xy,c ) ( xy,c x,c )
_
C
0 z C0p,q
0p,q
A
Using Hooke’s Law and assuming plane stress with where

Poisson’s ratio n, the stress along the z-axis can be written as: the superscript p, q indicates the qth cuboid of the pth mesh
element, and
( 5) εz = −ν_ σ + σy) = −_
E( x
ν ε + ε = ____________
1−ν( x y)
1 − 1 Ap,qand A0p,q
represent the deformed and initial area of the
(1 + εx)(1 + εy)
pth mesh element, respectively.
Substituting Equation 5 into Equation 4 gives:
By extracting strain deformations over all elements, the
( 6) ∆
_ C = ( 1 + ε )2 1 + ε 2 − 1 capacitance response of a synthetic cSEC can be obtained
x ( y)
C
0
by summing the capacitance of each mesh element and
ε
Denoting νxy = −_ y
εx as the transverse Poisson’s ratio of the expressed as:
corrugated dielectric layer under a free-standing configura-
tion, and nm as the Poisson’s ratio of the monitored material, P Q
1 ∑∆_Cp,q
p . q ∑
the Poisson’s ratio under composite action, nxy,c, assuming full (10) ∆
_ C = _
C 0
Cp,q 0
p=1 q=1
adhesion to the monitored material, can be written:
a νxy+ b νm εy,c

(7) νxy,c = − _ = −_
ε x,c
a+b
Methodology
where This section presents the methodology used for the experi-
a and b are the weights determined from the stiffness of mental tests and the numerical simulation.
materials, and
ex,c and ey,c are the in-plane strains under composite action. Experimental Test
To experimentally characterize the capacitance response of
Substituting Equation 7 into Equation 6 yields: the cSEC on monitoring angular motion, a free rotational
hinge was used to generate angular rotations. The schematic
(8) ∆
_ C = 1 + ε 2 1 − ν * ε 2 − 1 and dimensions of the free rotational hinge equipped with a
( x,c) ( xy,c x,c)
C 0
cSEC are shown in Figure 2b. It consists of two identical panels
printed by a fused fitment fabrication 3D printer. The free

2302 ME Feb New.indd 48 1/23/23 7:36 AM

rotational hinge was assembled by press-fitting a copper rod 0.54, 0.22, 0.49, 0.86, 1.34, 1.91, 2.57, 3.31, 4.12, and 5.00 mm were
into the designed hole, forming a pin connecting both panels applied on the hinge to induce angles of rotation (∆α) of 0°,
and allowing a 90° rotation in both clockwise (CW) and coun- 6°, 12°, 18°, 24°, 30°, 36°, 42°, 48°, 54°, and 60°. Those angular
terclockwise (CCW) directions. rotations were measured using a digital angle gauge with a
Figures 3a and 3b present the experimental setup. A minimum resolution of 0.05°, as shown in Figure 3c. This pro-
grid-patterned corrugation for the sensor was selected in this cedure was repeated three times and capacitance data were
study for ease of fabrication. The free rotational hinge was continuously collected over 120 s at 10 samples/s using an off-
initially rotated to a flat surface in the x-y plane (taken as 0°), the-shelf data acquisition system under each angle.
and the cSEC was adhered onto the x-y plane spanning the
hinge symmetrically using a thin layer of an off-the-shelf Numerical Simulations
bi-component epoxy. The bottom inset of Figure 3b shows To validate results obtained from the experimental tests and
a photograph of the installed sensor. Approximately 2% further validate the cSEC, a nonlinear 3D FEM was constructed
pre-stretching was applied to the cSEC during the instal- in ANSYS release 19.1 (ANSYS 2021) to simulate the capacitance
lation to prevent any slack or warping of the sensor under response of the cSEC under nonuniform bending strain. The
rotation-induced compressive strain. Quality of the adhesion configuration of the numerical model was created to be iden-
process can be evaluated by measuring the initial capacitance tical to the hinge specimen used in the experiments to repro-
of the sensor after installation, where it is expected to be 0.3 duce tests. The boundary conditions of the numerical model
to 0.5 pF higher than the initial value before the applied pre- are shown in the inset of Figures 3d and 3e. The rotated angles
strain. The entire specimen was mounted onto a customized were labeled as ∆α and ∆β for rotations in the CW and CCW
woodblock assembled with two M6 × 1.0 in. stainless coarse directions, respectively. Figure 3g presents the simulated defor-
thread carriage bolts used to applied strain through controllable mation of the SEC sensor under a 12° CW direction (∆α = 12)
displacement (1 mm/cycle). The two edges of the hinge plates angular rotation-induced bending, with the front section view
were fixed to the woodblock using double-coated urethane shown in Figure 3g. It can be observed that the deformation field
foam tape to restrain lateral movement. Displacements of 0, under the sensing area is nonuniform and that the majority
LCR
LabVIEW
Copper rod
Foam tape
Specimen
Wood block
SEC sensor
1.9e7
4.1e6
1.5e6
4.7e5
2.1e5
–1.6e5
–7.3e5
–4.3e6
–2.9e6
–2.3e7
Fixed Units: m
Hinge Y
Δα P Load Δβ
Angle gauge Z
X
P P
Figure 3. Experimental setup: (a) overview; (b) close-up view of the free rotational hinge; (c) installed digital angle gauges; (d) boundary conditions
of the numerical model; (e) simulated deformation of the SEC sensor under a 12° CW rotation; (f) front section view of the deformed sensor under
angular motion.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 49 1/23/23 7:36 AM

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ME ANGULARMOTIONSENSING
10
Conclusion
Test 1 Test 2
Test 3 Numerical This paper presented a study investigating the performance
5 Linear fit A Linear fit B
of a flexible and compliant strain gauge termed corrugated
ΔC/C0 (%)
soft elastomeric capacitor (cSEC) for measuring large angular

0
motions. The sensor is a thin-film capacitor that transduces
strain induced by angular motion into a measurable change
–5 in capacitance. An electromechanical model was derived to
transform capacitance measurements into angular motion,
–10
–60 –40 –20 0 20 40 60 and a finite element model (FEM) was constructed to validate
Angular degree experimental results.
The study was conducted by adhering cSECs onto the
Figure 4. ∆C/C0 amplitudes as a function of rotated angular degree. rotating area of a free rotational hinge subjected to an axial dis-
placement generating CW and CCW angular rotations between
–60° and 60° from a flat surface. Results show that (1) FEM sim-
ulations agreed with experimental data; (2) the cSEC produced
of deformations are localized on the rotated panel, gradually a linear response in measurements between –40° and 60°; and
descending from the hinge to the edge of the sensor. (3) measurements were repeatable.
Results presented in this study were obtained under static
Results and Discussion deformations, showing the promise of the cSEC at being used
The cSEC signal under angular motion was investigated by as an angular rotation sensor. Future work includes the study
evaluating the relative change in capacitance ∆C/C0 under of the sensor behavior under dynamic motion, improvement of
various angular degrees of rotation. Figure 4a is a plot of ∆C/C0 the accuracy on angular rotation measurements, and the eval-
as a function of the angular rotation in both CW and CCW uation of its capability to detect and measure fatigue cracks in
directions. corner welds.
Results of the ∆C/C0 are presented as the averaged values
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
taken from 120 s measurements under each angle. Figure 4 also
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Depart-
compares experimental results with those obtained from the ments of Transportation of Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina, and North
numerical simulations. The numerical capacitance response Carolina, through Transportation Pooled Fund Study TPF-5(449), and of
was obtained by extracting elastic strain deformations of each the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) for the Fellowship
Award.
mesh element on the sensor from the FEM and substituting
them into Equation 10. Results are shown by the dotted line. A REFERENCES
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Shao, L., X. Zhao, S. Gu, Y. Ma, Y. Liu, X. Deng, H. Jiang, and W. Zhang.
541X.0001151.
2021. “Pt thin-film resistance temperature detector on flexible hastelloy
Liu, G., Q. Tan, H. Kou, L. Zhang, J. Wang, W. Lv, H. Dong, and J. Xiong. tapes.” Vacuum 184:109966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2020.109966.
2018. “A flexible temperature sensor based on reduced graphene oxide for
Sun, X., Z. Qin, L. Ye, H. Zhang, Q. Yu, X. Wu, J. Li, and F. Yao. 2020.
robot skin used in internet of things.” Sensors (Basel) 18 (5): 1400. https://
“Carbon nanotubes reinforced hydrogel as flexible strain sensor with high
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Liu, H., M. Kollosche, J. Yan, E. M. Zellner, S. A. Bentil, I. V. Rivero, C. 382:122832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.122832.
Wiersema, and S. Laflamme. 2020a. “Numerical investigation of auxetic
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textured soft strain gauge for monitoring animal skin.” Sensors (Basel) 20
P. M. Pataniya. 2020. “2d- SnSe2 nanosheet functionalized piezo-resistive
(15): 4185. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20154185.
flexible sensor for pressure and human breath monitoring.” ACS Sustain-
Liu, H., J. Yan, M. Kollosche, S. A. Bentil, and S. Laflamme. 2020b. “Surface able Chemistry & Engineering 8 (20): 7741–49. https://doi.org/10.1021/
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Viola, F. A., A. Spanu, P. C. Ricci, A. Bonfiglio, and P. Cosseddu. 2018.
Liu, H., S. Laflamme, J. Li, C. Bennett, W. N. Collins, A. Downey, and H. “Ultrathin, flexible and multimodal tactile sensors based on organic
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Take Us
With You
Stay informed with Chat NDT
with ASNT—the podcast for NDT
professionals featuring the latest
information and interviews about
the NDT industry.
asnt.org/chatndt ASNT… CREATING A SAFER WORLD!®
NEW ULTRASONIC TESTING BOOKS

ASNT has published ASNT Questions & Answers
Book: Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing. This new
Questions and Answers book contains sections
on Level II and III knowledge, as well as a special
section on full matrix capture, and is a good
resource for readers with ultrasonic testing (UT)
experience to evaluate their knowledge in
these techniques.
ASNT has also published ASNT Questions

& Answers Book: Time of Flight Diffraction.
This book covers Level II and III knowledge on
time of flight diffraction, and will allow readers
to determine if they possess a thorough
understanding of this UT technique.
ASNT… CREATING
A SAFER WORLD!® WWW.ASNT.ORG/STORE
2302 ME Feb New.indd 52 1/23/23 7:36 AM

LEADERSHIP SCOPE |

The American Society for
Nondestructive Testing
asnt.org
WORKFORCE REDUX
Recently, I attended a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) meeting on NDE,
ASNT MISSION STATEMENT during which the group discussed workforce challenges. The participants all
ASNT's mission is to advance the cited the same factors we’ve heard for years—not enough people making the
field of nondestructive testing.
decision to enter the NDE field, the impending loss of senior professionals,
SOCIETY OFFICERS and quality issues driven by inadequate training of Level IIs. The nuclear power
John T. Iman, industry also faces the added challenge of having a seasonal workforce.
VMI – A Varex Company There was some question about who is responsible for solving this problem—
CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD
the NRC (the regulator) or the utilities (suppliers). My perspective, and ultimately
Danny L. Keck, the consensus opinion in the meeting, was that it is all of our jobs to solve.
KCS Enterprises The proposals offered reminded me of my years of experience in US
PRESIDENT
government: we need a workforce study and a summit to get everyone
John Z. Chen, KBR
VICE PRESIDENT
together to talk about this issue. It’s the natural response when dealing with
highly educated people, especially with backgrounds in research. Get more
Heather Cowles, CAE, ASNT
SECRETARY
data. ASNT has been discussing a study of the NDT workforce, and with What can we
the recent formation of the ASNT Foundation and the hiring of a Workforce
Brad Pence, CPA, CGMA, ASNT
Development Manager, we are now positioned to properly fund and conduct
do to make NDT
TREASURER
Michael V. McGloin,
this study. ASNT has also committed to work with EPRI on its workforce study more appealing
targeting the nuclear power industry.
NDT Enterprises
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRPERSON ASNT’s advocacy program has been gaining traction as we engage in
to high school
OF THE BOARD
public relations activities to communicate the importance of the NDT profes- and college
sion. Advocacy is an essential role that only ASNT can serve, but it will take
DIRECTORS
time to feel results in the workplace. It won’t solve our immediate problems.
graduates?
Tsuchin (Philip) Chu,
Southern Illinois University ASNT engages with sister societies through the Coalition for the Skilled
James (Gerry) Churchwell, Trades, and we’ve been discussing this issue nonstop for four years. We all see
Shawcor Inspection Services the same issues, share the same ideas, and run into the same barriers.
Stacy Cotie, Acuren
The bottom line is the workforce issue is a national issue (but not just a US
problem). It is an issue created by developments and trends within our society.
Larry Culbertson, Jr., NDT NDT and the skilled trades are simply boats in the same stream being affected by
Technical Services
the flow of our society. The US Chamber of Commerce put it succinctly: “We have
Roger W. Engelbart, Boeing a lot of jobs, but not enough workers to fill them. If every unemployed person in
Research & Technology (retired)
the country found a job, we would still have 4 million open jobs.” Projections for
Cindy Finley, UTEX high school graduates have begun to decline (from 3.93 million in 2023 to 3.53
Scientific Instruments
million in 2037), meaning the supply problems will get worse, not better.
Lawrence W. Gill, General How do you meet growing workforce demands while the workforce supply
Dynamics Electric Boat is shrinking? To my knowledge, there are three options: compete for talent by
Clyde W. May, Varex Imaging making the NDT field more appealing than other options, reduce the demand
by accomplishing more work using technology in lieu of human labor, or
Ricky L. Morgan, FlawTech
obtain talent from other regions (outside the US).
Emilie Peloquin, Evident | Olympus While technology, especially AI/ML, is rapidly being adopted in NDT, our
Anish Poudel, MxV Rail expectations are that it will not reduce the need for workers. It will only change
the need, requiring skills in using these technologies. To reiterate, AI will not
Jason Riggs, Marmon Rail
replace the NDT workforce.
Timothy Scott Roach, Tenaris Obtaining workers from outside the US is not a new strategy, but it would
Shana Telesz, Waygate require government intervention—a subject for another day.
Technologies So that leaves us with making the NDT profession more attractive to candi-
dates than other options. While I have some ideas on this, I would like to invite our
members to weigh in: What can we do to make being an NDT professional more
appealing to high school and college graduates? Email me with your ideas.
NEAL J. COUTURE, CAE
ASNT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
NCOUTURE@ASNT.ORG

2302 ME Feb New.indd 53 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCOPE
ASNT SEEKING
SPEAKER AND AUTHOR
PROPOSALS FOR 2023
Is building your résumé and expanding your professional network one of your
goals for 2023? ASNT is currently accepting proposals for presenters, speakers, and
authors for several upcoming conferences, special journal issues, and its popular
webinar series. Read on to see what new opportunities are available to you!
ASNT RESEARCH Ñ Panel sessions

SYMPOSIUM – Proposals should:
EXPLORING THE FUTURE Ñ Address important research
OF NONDESTRUCTIVE questions
EVALUATION
Ñ Increase the knowledge and skills of
ASNT will hold its 31st Research scholars and industry professionals
Symposium on 26–30 June 2023 in
Ñ Promote the development of the
Columbus, Ohio. The symposium will not
NDE profession
only spotlight cutting-edge research but
also the students who are the future of Ñ Showcase methodological rigor
NDE research. All session topics that are relevant to
The ASNT Research Council Program the NDE community will be considered
Committee seeks the following proposals: for inclusion in the program.
Submissions for the technical program
Ñ Technical presentations
must be accompanied by a two- to
Ñ Student poster presentations four-page Proceedings Paper to be

2302 ME Feb New.indd 54 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SOCIETYNEWS SCOPE |
considered for presentation. Papers presentations addressing current and multitechnique measurements of inter-
will be peer reviewed and accepted/ future issues, covering theoretical and dependent parameters and the evalu-
presented papers will be included in the experimental work. Of considerable ation of the data through sophisticated
conference proceedings. Each submis- interest will be state-of-the-art devel- computer analyses are also encouraged.
sion will be reviewed and scored by at opments and applications where the For more information, go to asnt.org
least two peer reviewers. Acceptance complex nature of materials is recog- /events. Abstracts should be submitted
notification will be made by 1 April 2023. nized. Furthermore, discussions on by 31 March 2023.
For more information, go to asnt.org/ the applications and possibilities for
| PARTICIPATE
events. The deadline for submitting a
proposal is 15 February 2023.
ASNT 2023: THE

ANNUAL CONFERENCE CALL FOR WEBINAR PRESENTERS
– EVOLUTION ASNT is recruiting speakers for its 2023 webinar calendar, and we invite you to
participate as a presenter. Webinars are one hour long with 10 minutes embedded
The NDT world is evolving at a rapid
for Q&A. Presentations typically take place on the second Wednesday of each month
pace. From advances in technology, arti-
beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Below are the themes and topics we are considering for
ficial intelligence, and machine learning
each month.
to an ever-changing workforce, NDT
continues to evolve. ASNT 2023: The September 13 – Eddy Current Testing/Eddy Current Arrays (ECAs)
Annual Conference is a reflection of Target audience: Level I and II technicians
this evolution. Join your colleagues in Purpose: Explain and demonstrate the uses and applications of ECAs
Houston, Texas, on 23–26 October to October 11 – Magnetic Particle Inspection
help define the evolution by submitting Target audience: Level I and II technicians
a presentation proposal. We are looking Purpose: Review the fundamentals of MT and explore some of its applications
for a dynamic variety of presentations to
meet the diverse needs of conference November 8 – How to Conduct Audits (Nadcap, EBC)
attendees. Presentation types include Target audience: Level IIIs, managers, owners
panel discussions, expert lectures, deep Purpose: Provide a step-by-step guide for internal audits; explain what to expect from
dive sessions, skill-building workshops, external audits
and more. December 13 – Aviation/Aerospace
For more information, go to asnt.org Target audience: Level IIIs, researchers, engineers
/events. The deadline for submitting a Purpose: Highlight some of the recent developments in aerospace inspections
proposal is 19 March 2023.
INTERNATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM ON
NONDESTRUCTIVE
CHARACTERIZATION
OF MATERIALS
ASNT is calling for proposals to present
at the 17th International Symposium
on Nondestructive Characterization of
Materials (ISNDCM) in Zurich, Switzerland,
on 15–17 August 2023. The main focus
of ISNDCM is the use of NDE methods We can also accommodate extra webinars throughout the year based on interest
as an investigation tool to determine a and need. For more information about becoming a presenter or to submit
material’s properties and characterize a proposal, please contact Bob Conklin at bconklin@asnt.org or 1-800-222-
2768 ext. 275.
parts of materials or features detected
within them. This symposium encourages

2302 ME Feb New.indd 55 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCOPE SOCIETYNEWS |
SPECIAL ISSUE OF Editors issue is to consolidate recent research
RNDE ON MACHINE Ñ Elizabeth Gregory, NASA: activities that utilize existing or innovative
LEARNING IN NDE elizabeth.d.gregory@nasa.gov NDE methods/approaches to advance
the railway sector’s inspection state
Recent advancements in artificial intel- Ñ Hossein Taheri, Georgia Southern
worldwide.
ligence (AI), including new strategies University: htaheri@georgia
Potential topics include:
for capturing, storing, analyzing, and southern.edu
Journal homepage and author Ñ Rail flaw detection
interpreting data, have the potential to
revolutionize the nondestructive evalua- guidelines are available at asnt.org/rnde. Ñ Special trackwork inspection
tion (NDE) of materials and structures in Submit your paper by 1 May 2023 at Ñ Rail fastening system inspection
many ways. The field of NDE can signifi- mc.manuscriptcentral.com/urnd.
Ñ Track buckling measurements
cantly benefit from new machine learning
Ñ Cross tie inspection
(ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms,
increased computer processing power, ME TECHNICAL Ñ Substructure inspection
the accessibility of mobile internet, the FOCUS ISSUE – NDE Ñ Railway bridges inspection
availability of substantial amounts of high- OF RAILROADS
Ñ Wheel/rail contact characterization
quality data, and modern data storage Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and char- Ñ Wheel defect detection
technology. acterization play a key role in monitoring
The focus of this special issue is to Ñ Axle defect detection
the health of railway systems and networks
consolidate recent research activities that all around the globe. Rail operators world- Ñ Wayside inspection/machine vision
utilize existing or new AI/ML methods to wide operate in complex loading, fatigue, inspection of railcar components
advance the state of NDE. These include and natural environmental conditions. Ñ Tank car weld inspection
but are not limited to: (a) the design Timely and reliable monitoring of railway Ñ Condition-based maintenance and
and development of novel algorithms components helps operators and asset novel inspection
adapted for NDE data acquisition, anal- owners understand, predict, and measure
ysis, modeling, or prediction; (b) imple- Ñ AI/ML applications
changes before they become critical and
mentation of existing AI/ML algorithms to problematic. NDE methods and tools Each paper accepted will be assigned
new NDE application; and (c) data-driven are extremely important to assure railway a DOI number. Technical Focus Issues
methods for extracting relevant informa- operations’ safety, integrity, and reliability. of Materials Evaluation are open access,
tion from NDE data sets compared to Recent advancements in NDE sensor ensuring high visibility for your paper.
conventional approaches. technologies and computing power Accepted papers are also exempt from
To be considered for this special issue, coupled with the adoption of artificial publication fees.
manuscripts are required to demonstrate intelligence (AI) and various machine Deadline: The submission deadline is
a significant contribution to the field of learning (ML) algorithms, including 1 May 2023. Submitted papers should
NDE with carefully documented meth- new strategies for capturing, storing, not be under consideration for publica-
odology and results, reporting model analyzing, and interpreting data, have tion elsewhere. We encourage authors to
performance compared to conventional the potential to revolutionize the NDE send a short abstract or tentative title to
approaches, and including relevant code of railroads and assist in intelligent the Technical Editor in advance.
in public depositories (such as GitHub) maintenance practices and operations Technical Editor: Anish Poudel, MxV Rail;
following common practices in the field in many ways. The focus of this special anish_poudel@aar.com
of ML.
Scope:
Ñ Artificial intelligence
Ñ Machine learning
Ñ Deep learning
Ñ Computer vision
Ñ Signal and image processing
Ñ Big data
Ñ Time series analysis
Ñ Surrogate modeling
Ñ Pattern recognition

2302 ME Feb New.indd 56 1/23/23 7:36 AM

2302 ME Feb New.indd 57 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCOPE SECTIONNEWS |
CENTRAL INDIANA CONNECTICUT YANKEE GREATER LOS ANGELES
INDIANAPOLIS, IN GROTON, CT LOS ANGELES, CA
11 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 16 N OV E M B E R 2 0 2 2 11 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2
9 AT T E N D I N G 35 AT T E N D I N G 18 AT T E N D I N G
Ñ The Central Indiana Section held a Ñ American Welding Society and ASNT Ñ The Greater Los Angeles Section
meeting at Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza members and guests attended a joint held a meeting at Bruce’s Prime Rib in
in Greenwood, Indiana. Scott Hunley meeting of the Connecticut Yankee Santa Fe Springs, California. The meeting
opened the meeting with announce- Section at the Groton Elks in Groton, featured a presentation titled “Cleaning
ments regarding a potential joint meeting Connecticut. The meeting featured a Process (Pre/Post)” by Robert Siegel.
with the local ASM International section, presentation by Al Moore, Principal of
the upcoming ASNT Annual Conference, NAVSEA Solutions/Marion Testing & METRO NEW YORK/
and corporate sponsors. The meeting Inspection. Moore’s talk focused on NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
featured a presentation by John Register welding discontinuities and defects. ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY
on linear array for composites, which 12 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2
11 AT T E N D I N G
included equipment demonstrations. CLEVELAND
CLEVEL AND, OH
Ñ The Metro New York/Northern
New Jersey Section held a meeting
CENTRAL VALLEY 17 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2
21 AT T E N D I N G
BAKERSFIELD, C A
at Spectro-UV LLC, which included
16 N OV E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Ñ The Cleveland Section held a meeting announcements about upcoming
13 AT T E N D I N G
at Mavis Winkles Restaurant in Twinsburg, meetings, section sponsors, new
Ñ The Central Valley Section met in Ohio. The meeting featured speaker Paul members, and upcoming social
Tehachapi, California, to fill Section officer Benjamin of University Hospitals, who events. The meeting also featured an
roles and establish duties. The board delivered the presentation “Everything industry tour and presentation given by
members were elected. You Wanted to Know about Medical Spectro-UV speakers Tony Allan and
Imaging but Were Afraid to Ask.” Steve Cicchese.
| SPOTLIGHTCENTRALVALLEY ROCKFORD STATELINE

ROCKFORD, IL
8 NOVEMBER 2022
17 AT T E N D I N G
Ñ The Rockford Stateline Section held

a virtual meeting featuring a presenta-
tion by Andrew Good of Jesse Garant
Metrology Center titled “Computed
Tomography and Volume Graphics: How
They Work Together.”
SAUDI ARABIAN
DHAHR AN, SAUDI AR ABIA
19 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2
Ñ The Saudi Arabian Section held

The Central Valley Section elected Section officers at its
a student outreach event led by
meeting on 16 November 2022 in Tehachapi, California.
Mohammed Abufour.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 58 1/23/23 7:36 AM

AWARDS&HONORS SCOPE |
GLENN WASHER
2022 Lester/Mehl Honor Lecture winner Glenn Washer, PhD, is a professor of civil and environ-
mental engineering at the University of Missouri. Before joining the university, Washer was with the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) at the Turner Fairbank Research Center, where he served
as the director of the FHWA Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) program. Washer received his PhD
in Materials Science and Engineering from the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) at
Johns Hopkins University in 2001. His research interests are focused on condition assessment tech-
nology for civil infrastructure. This includes developing NDE technologies for damage detection,
reliability of inspection technologies, and risk-based inspection. Research in NDE technologies
currently includes ultrasonic stress measurement, ultrasonic testing for steel bridge fabrication,
thermal imaging technologies, and reliability of NDE technologies. He has published more than
120 journal and conference papers related to the condition assessment of bridges and is a Fellow
of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT).
ABOUT LESTER/MEHL HONOR LECTURE NOMINATIONS OPEN

The Lester/Mehl Honor Lecture is established in memory of the outstanding contributions to ASNT
ASNT is currently accepting nominations for
and the nondestructive testing industry by Dr. Horace H. Lester and Dr. Robert F. Mehl. Lester wrote
the Robert B. Oliver Scholarship. Nominations
numerous published articles, fostered techniques, and did seminal work in ASNT committees. Mehl
for the Robert B. Oliver Scholarship must
was the first person to use radium for gamma radiography. The Lester Honor Lecture and Mehl Honor
be received on or before 5 March 2023.
Lectures were separate recognitions, given every other year, until 2018. The purpose of the Lester/Mehl
Visit asnt.org/awards for more information.
Honor Lecture is to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the science of
Questions? Contact Heather Cowles by email
nondestructive testing. Such contributions may be made in the area of research, applications technology,
at awards@asnt.org.
management, education, equipment development, or other related areas.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 59 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCOPE PEOPLEWATCH |
President Ian ASNT Lifetime member Erik Lombardo as chair of the board of governors for
Cooper of TWI has accepted a new position at Northrop 2023. Theodore (Ted) Colbert III, exec-
Ltd. and President Grumman. Northrop Grumman is a utive vice president, The Boeing Co. and
Elect Jason global aerospace, defense, and security president/CEO, Boeing Defense, Space,
Taylor of SGS company. and Security, will serve as vice chair. Eric
have started ASNT member Lennart Schulenburg is Fanning has been reelected as AIA
their terms of a new member of the Board of Directors of President and CEO.
office for the period 2023–2024 at the Schauenburg International GmbH, a profes- Fortify, a full-stack materials science and
British Institute of NDT (BINDT). Taylor sional investment company that is engaged additive manufacturing company, has
is an ASNT member and part of the in digital solutions, space, and tech. named Lawrence Ganti to succeed
North Atlantic and ASNT Virtual sections. Josh Martin as company CEO. Martin,
Taylor is also a Fellow of ASNT. BINDT Robert Robinson has started a new
position as Nondestructive Testing a co-founder, will take on a new role as
is the professional institute for all those chief product officer.
engaged in nondestructive testing and Technician at Pratt & Whitney.
condition monitoring. It is concerned Carly Danyel Cramblit is starting a MILESTONES
with the education and training of its new position as NDE Level III at Radial ASNT’s Debbie Segor has successfully
members and the advancement of the Solutions Inc. Radial Solutions Inc. is a obtained her Certified Digital Marketing
science and practice of the subject. service disabled veteran owned small Professional credential from the
The Society for business (SDVOSB) comprised of program American Marketing Association.
the Advancement managers, analysts, engineers, and SMEs.
ASNT’s Rali Petrova has achieved the
of Material The Institute for Advanced Composites completion of the inaugural Leadership
and Process Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), a Development Program from the Institute
Engineering 130-plus member community of industry, for Credentialing Excellence.
(SAMPE) universities, national laboratories, and
ASNT member Samir Saad has been
North America federal, state, and local government
included in the World Book of Records
announced that Zane Clark, SAMPE agencies working together to accelerate
for being the “most international certifi-
North America CEO, departed effec- advanced composites design, manufac-
cate holder,” holding 31 certificates from
tive 14 December 2022, to accept an turing, technical innovation, and work-
international organizations and institutes
executive position with the Specialty force solutions to enable a cleaner and
at 40 years of age.
Equipment Market Association (SEMA). more sustainable, more secure, and more
During his 2.5 years as CEO, Clark competitive US economy, has named Lynn La Pietra, Digital Research
successfully guided SAMPE through Chad Duty as the organization’s CEO. An and Development (R&D) Leader in
the pandemic, repositioned SAMPE’s engineering professor at the University Carestream’s Non-Destructive Testing
portfolio of assets, and built a company of Tennessee, Knoxville, and joint (NDT) Group, won a Silver Stevie® Award
culture that will serve as a platform faculty member at Oak Ridge National in the Most Innovative Woman of the
for future success. Led by Scott Laboratory, Duty will immediately begin Year – Technology category at the 2022
Stephenson, SAMPE North America transitioning into his new role as CEO of Stevie Awards for Women in Business.
President and acting CEO, SAMPE will IACMI and fully assume it by 1 April 2023. La Pietra has been instrumental in devel-
immediately begin a search for Clark’s oping products to detect problems in
Altair, a global company in computational
permanent replacement. complex infrastructures across industries.
science and artificial intelligence, has
An innovation translator and one of few
announced that Ravi Kunju has been
women leaders in the NDT industry, La
named its chief product and strategy
Pietra relies on cross-functional commu-
officer. In this role, Kunju will be respon-
nication and collaboration to bring prod-
APPOINTMENTS sible for the strategy and vision of Altair
ucts to life, drawing on core strengths of
ASNT member and Materials Evaluation products, which includes facilitating
her team.
and Research in Nondestructive the development, sales, pricing, and
marketing of Altair’s solutions for industry Stephen Gill, chair and CEO, celebrated
Evaluation Associate Technical Editor
verticals and business lines. his 65th anniversary with The Gill Corp. in
Ehsan Dehghan-Niri has started a new
2022, a company that makes composite
position as Associate Professor at Arizona The Aerospace Industries Association
materials used primarily in the aerospace
State University. (AIA) has elected Tom Gentile, president
industry. Gill began his career at the
and CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, to serve

2302 ME Feb New.indd 60 1/23/23 7:36 AM

PEOPLEWATCH SCOPE |
family business in 1957, working summers
and vacations until his graduation from
USC. When he started, the company
| NEWCERTIFICATIONS
had about 15 people. After working in ACCP Level II Dale J. Szabla Chun-Kai Chen Sabri Bin Ngah
positions throughout the corporation, Ryan Seigel Hite Mary C. Walker Bailey Cone Huy Nguyen Quang
Gill stepped into the role of CEO in 1991. Cheng Wei Wu Qi Dang Rickfy Perdhana
Under his leadership the corporation has ACCP Level II CWI Travis Dreyfoos Thong Quoc Khanh
Joseph Berhosky ACCP Professional Balkishan Huu Phuc
grown to four divisions worldwide, and Level III Dyavanapelly, Sr. Naveen Kumar Pilli
Gregory H. Black
Gill and the corporation have received Adam Terrell Guess David A. Ellis Micol Poole
Kim Christensen
numerous awards and recognitions from Mikel Curry Hannah J. Fisher Santhosh Kumar Potnuru
ASNT NDT Level II Krishnamoorthy Juan Rodriguez
customers and industry institutions. Daryl Frey
Louis Angelo Morales Ganesh Moorthy Richard A. Ruiz
Jayce D. Groves Daisy Gaona
DEATHS
Erich Hacker Kuwnar Kuldeep Singh
ASNT NDT Adam Goodman
ASNT member Kevin O’Steen passed Sean Michael Herlihy Level III Premkumar Venkatesan
Adam Holmes Matthew B. Vines
away in January of 2023. O’Steen was a James D. Hill Jnanananda Acharya Rajesh Kumar Katuru
Richard B. Hopson Nam Vu Tu
member of the San Diego Section, where David Arnold Marc A. Majors
Cody D. Inslee Varahala Ramu Yadla
he previously served as chair and vice Mohamed Atta Shahbas Mattathur
Robert Herman Kurent Hiroshi Yokoi
Xiaofei Bai Errol Dick Minnie
chair, as well as the ASNT Virtual Section.
Eric Lozano Billy Bennett
He was the recipient of ASNT’s Lou Joshua Mitchell ISQ – Oil & Gas
Delbert Melton Antonietta Capitanio Cody J. Mooring (UTT)
DiValerio Technician of the Year Award in Seth W. Moore Clint Carter Samuel J. Nesthus Adrian Lopez
2002. Leonard Strocchia

2302 ME Feb New.indd 61 1/23/23 7:36 AM

|
SCOPE CERTIFICATIONQ&A
This month’s column contains a listing of inquiries received and answered by the INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-04
SNT-TC-1A Interpretation Panel for the year 2022. In past years, this listing was published SNT-TC-1A: 2016 Edition
as part of Ready Reference. A full collection of responses dating back to 1976 is available Paragraph: 8.7.3.1
in book format, Interpreting SNT-TC-1A, which will soon be available for purchase from
INQUIRY
the ASNT Store.
Paragraph 8.7.3.1 states, “Twenty (20)
questions relating to specifications, equip-
ment, techniques, and procedures appli-
INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-01 INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-03 cable to the employer’s product(s) and
SNT-TC-1A: 2016 Edition methods employed and to the administra-
SNT-TC-1A: 2016 Edition
Paragraph: 8.1.1 and 8.1.2 tion of the employer’s written practice.”
Paragraph: 1.1, 8.5.1, and 8.5.2
1. Is it the intent of this paragraph that
INQUIRY INQUIRY
20 questions should include ques-
As described in Paragraph 1.1 of Approved re-wording.
tions related to the administration of
SNT-TC-1A: 2016: In a situation where an 1. Does an ASNT NDT Level III have to
the employer’s written practice?
individual only witnesses NDT examina- undergo a Level III Specific exam-
tions due to his job. ination conducted by an outside 2. If the answer is “Yes,” then does
agency to become a qualified repre- the words “administration of the
1. Is it acceptable for a “surveyor” qual-
sentative of the employer in order employer’s written practice” mean
ification to be based on witnessing
to conduct in-house NDT Level III questions related to a specific
results of nondestructive examina-
examinations? requirement of applicable NDT
tions, as described in the written
methods in the written practice
practice? 2. Can the same ASNT NDT Level III
or any questions related to the
2. Can a “surveyor” be certified as a approve NDT Level III qualification
employer’s written practice?
Level II? examination questions if designated
in writing by the employer? RESPONSE
3. If so, would it need to be called a
limited certification? 1. Yes.
RESPONSE
1. No. Paragraph 8.7.3.2 permits the 2. Questions which are related to the
RESPONSE
employer to delete the Specific administration of the employer’s
1. Yes. The employer could create written practice.
examination requirements alto-
a unique certification such as a
gether provided the candidate
“surveyor.”
holds a valid ASNT NDT or ACCP
2. No. The position as described Professional Level III certificate in the INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-05
would not meet the requirements of method and documented evidence SNT-TC-1A: 2020 Edition
a Level II. of experience exists. Note: This Paragraph: 8.1.4
3. No. This would be a unique certifi- allowance has been deleted in the INQUIRY
cation called “Surveyor” and would 2020 edition of SNT-TC-1A. Please provide clarification as to the
be based on the criteria described 2. Yes. However, examinations which correct method/formula that should be
in the written practice for that they may administer should not used when calculating the composite
specific certification. contain questions which they have grade mentioned in paragraph 8.1.4, if
authored and/or approved. more than one practical examination is
administered.
INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-02 1. Should the practical scores be added,
SNT-TC-1A: 2020 Edition averaged, and then added to other
Paragraph: 8.2
scores before obtaining the composite
INQUIRY grade, or should each individual score
Can vision examination be administered be added to obtain a total, and the
and certified by a Level III, not qualified in resultant total simply averaged?
Visual Testing? RESPONSE
RESPONSE Certification Q&A is a column intended to 1. The composite score should include
Yes. answer questions about ASNT’s certification only one input for the General, Specific,
programs. To submit a question, please email and Practical examinations. Multiple
asnt.certifications@asnt.org with the subject line General, Specific, and Practical exams
“Certification Q&A.” should be averaged prior to inclusion
into the final composite score.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 62 1/23/23 7:36 AM

INQUIRY NUMBER: 3. Would a Level II be considered a RESPONSE
22-06 REV B subordinate of the Level III, unable 1. To be defined in the employer’s
SNT-TC-1A: 2016 Edition to administer the technical perfor- written practice.
Paragraph: 6.0 mance evaluation per paragraph 2. If it is defined as such in the employ-
8.1.8? er’s written practice.
INQUIRY
May an employer accept a signed affi- RESPONSE 3. This would be covered under
davit of training as an acceptable alterna- 1. No. (This topic is under review for section 13.0, Termination.
tive to documented evidence? future editions.) 4. If it is defined as such in the employ-
RESPONSE 2. Not applicable. er’s written practice.
Yes, provided the process has been 3. Not applicable. 5. If it is defined as such in the
addressed in the employer’s written prac- employer’s written practice.
tice, supported by previous certification
documentation, and approved by the INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-09
employer’s Level III. SNT-TC-1A: 2020 Edition INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-10
Paragraph: 11.0 SNT-TC-1A: 2020 Edition
Paragraph: 8.1.3
INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-07 INQUIRY
1. What is meant by the term INQUIRY
SNT-TC-1A: 2020 Edition
“Interrupted Service”? Paragraph 8.1.3 states “All NDT Level I,
Paragraph: 1.4
II, and III written examinations should be
INQUIRY
2. Does interrupted service pertain to
closed book, except that necessary data,
Section 1.4 allows an employer to when an employee is still employed
such as graphs, tables, specifications,
provide a limited certification as long by the employer, but steps away
procedures, codes, etc., may be provided
as there is a technical rationale for such from the employer for a period of
with or in the examination. Questions
modification. time for a medical leave, military
utilizing such reference materials should
leave, leave of absence, etc.?
1. Does the intent of this statement require an understanding of the infor-
allow limited certifications in UT 3. Does interrupted service pertain mation rather than merely locating the
shear wave of groove welds only? to when an employee leaves an appropriate answer.”
employer, then has a gap in the
2. Is this limited certification justifiable 1. Does this paragraph apply if there
time where the employee is not
for only 210 hours of experience? are no references permitted to
performing testing between the
be used on either the General or
RESPONSE employment with the old employer
Specific closed book exams?
1. No. and the employment with the new
employer? 2. If a reference (i.e., NDT procedure)
2. No.
is permitted to be used during a
4. Does interrupted service pertain to
Specific exam containing 20 ques-
when an employee is working for
tions from that reference, what
INQUIRY NUMBER: 22-08 the employer, but not performing
would be a reasonable percentage
SNT-TC-1A: 2020 Edition testing in a method for which certi-
of those questions that should not
Paragraph: 8.1.8 and 10.2 fied for a period of time, such as
be simply “look-up and answer”
INQUIRY six months? As an example, an
style questions to meet the intent of
1. If a Level III is performing testing employee is certified for RT, MT, PT,
that paragraph?
and accepting production parts, and VT, and they do not perform
does the Level III need to be reeval- RT for six months, but are still RESPONSE
uated on a periodic basis by the performing testing in the remaining 1. No, it would not apply; however, the
administration of a technical perfor- methods for which certified. Specific exam requires the use of
mance evaluation? 5. Does interrupted service pertain specifications or codes and accep-
to when an employee is still tance criteria used in the employer’s
2. If a technical performance evalua-
working for the employer but is NDT procedures.
tion is required for a Level III, can a
Level II that has been properly dele- not performing testing or any 2. Questions utilizing such reference
gated by the responsible Level III other NDT-related activities in the materials should require an under-
perform the oversight of the tech- methods for which certified? standing of the information rather
nical performance evaluation? than merely locating the appropriate
answer.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 63 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SCOPE ATWORK |
RODNEY STEPHENS
Instructor, Nondestructive Examination Technology,
Central Piedmont Community College
CHARLOTTE, NC
HOW DID YOU FIRST BECOME Olympus NDT in Houston, Texas. methods other than VT and auto-
INVOLVED IN NDT?
I got my first certification (ACCP matic defect detection software
I was a custom carpenter for many
Level II) while in Texas, then got becoming commonplace.
years. Sawdust exposure led to
the rest of my certifications once
cancer, so I had to make a career ARE YOU INVOLVED IN
I moved back to Charlotte, North
change. I looked at offerings at YOUR SECTION?
Carolina (ASNT NDT Level III in ET,
Central Piedmont Community I have been involved for years with
MT, PT, and UT).
College and saw the Nondestructive both the North Carolina Student
Examination Technology program. WHAT’S A TYPICAL WORKDAY?
Section and the Charlotte Section,
A friend of mine did NDI for the I typically arrive to campus about and I’m currently the faculty
Royal Canadian Air Force, so I knew two hours before classes begin. advisor for the Student Section.
what it was. I completed my AAS I use this time to prepare for the ASNT membership has been
degree, got the job offer I wanted day’s activities, grade assignments, completely beneficial to my career,
on graduation day, and went to and so on. I deliver the lecture as I would not have been able to
work doing radiography. or supervise the hands-on work, assume my current job without
depending on the schedule for ASNT certifications.
CAN YOU TELL
US ABOUT YOUR
that day. I also work on recruiting
WHAT CAN INDUSTRY DO TO
CERTIFICATION and outreach, trying to publi- ENCOURAGE CAREERS IN NDT?
AND TRAINING? cize our program so that we can A couple of things: first, be more
I got a good basic produce more graduates to fill all willing to help their personnel get
education in six those entry-level jobs. NDT training. Next, help educate
methods (ET, MT,
the general public about NDT, the
PT, RT, UT, and VT) WHAT CHARACTERISTICS
DO YOU THINK DEFINE A
need for more technicians, and the
in school, and then
GOOD NDT TECHNICIAN? many various career opportunities
got a wide variety
I believe a good NDT technician that these technicians can take
of experience
must have a strong work ethic, advantage of. Finally, be willing to
working for
attention to detail, and the ability to take on entry-level technicians. So
follow instructions precisely. One many job postings are for Level II
major trait that must not be over- positions, but how is the new tech-
looked is a person’s ethics. People’s nician supposed to get the experi-
lives depend on the inspections ence for that Level II?
NDT personnel perform every day,
so technicians must never compro- WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU
OFFER TO INDIVIDUALS
mise their ethics. CONSIDERING CAREERS IN NDT?
I’d tell them that NDT is one of the
HOW HAS NDT CHANGED
DURING YOUR CAREER? WHAT
most interesting and rewarding
TRENDS DO YOU SEE? careers you could ever hope to
Increased complexity in probes have. If a person is willing to apply
and instrumentation, such as themselves, the sky’s the limit.
phased array UT and eddy current
array, is making data visualization DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE
QUOTE THAT INSPIRES YOUR
and interpretation simpler than WORK OR PERSONAL LIFE?
before, when we had to analyze I got this from a fortune cookie,
A-scan or impedance plane and I keep it taped to my
data. I think we’ll see increased computer monitor: “Be patient,
use of robots and drones for Rome was not built in a day.”

2302 ME Feb New.indd 64 1/23/23 7:36 AM

2302 ME Feb New.indd 65 1/23/23 7:36 AM

SERVICES&RESOURCES
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• Daily, weekly, and monthly rentals
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Videoscopes / UT, PA, and ECT flaw detectors
rentals@olympus-ossa.com
or call 24/7: 1-281-922-9300
www.olympus-ims.com/rentals
Rental only avaliable in the U.S.A.
Automated NDT SCANNERS

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• Contour-following & 3D Software
(1)450.233.4973
www.tecscan.ca info@tecscan.ca

2302 ME Feb New.indd 66 1/23/23 7:36 AM

The ASNT Career Center
is your online NDT career
resource destination. Take
the first step to find your next
candidate or land your next
job. Get started today.
asnt.org/NDTcareers
ASNT… CREATING A SAFER WORLD!®
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| SERVICES&RESOURCES
Get ASNT Certified

Accelerate your NDT Career
Learn more: asntcertification.org.
ADVANCED & TRADITIONAL

NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
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Special Emphasis
Advanced NDT Innovative Inspection

Services Technologies
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and Interpretation Inspection (NII)
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2302 ME Feb New.indd 68 1/23/23 7:36 AM

Oil & Gas Sector
Shear Wave Kit
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UT Thickness Kit
siui@siui.com
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Nondestructive Training
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128-element TFM Mechanicsburg, PA 717-856-8249
64:128PR PAUT + 4-ch TOFD brian@vimarndt.com www.uniwest.com/eddyview2

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| SERVICES&RESOURCES
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Technologies
Consulting
International, Inc.
(TCI)
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Hussein M. Sadek e: hmsadek@tciintl.com
President
• Consulting Services (Level I, II, & III)

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2302 ME Feb New.indd 71 1/23/23 7:36 AM

| SNAPSHOTS
RT INSPECTION OF
LONGITUDINAL WELD
Pressure vessels are produced by CIMTAS – Turkey, an international manufacturer for the fossil,
nuclear, and renewable power, oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and construction
industries. Manufacturing is performed in accordance with ASME’s Boiler and Pressure Vessel
Code (BPVC) Section VIII, Division 1. The rules of this division require volumetric examination on
longitudinal and circumferential welds of this pressure vessel.
To achieve this, two NDT technicians arranged a radiographic testing (RT) setup to inspect the
longitudinal weld of the cylindrical shell section as shown in the photo. Iridium-192 is used as the
radiation source for this test. The RT technician placed the source inside the shell section, and film
was placed on the outside of the weld as per ASME BPVC Section V (Radiographic Examination
Article 2, Figure A-210-1: Single-Wall Radiographic Techniques, Exposure Arrangement – B). This is
the arrangement for single wall–single view, which is a well-known practice in RT.
Safety is the main concern for RT. After the setup, the RT technician should define a safety line We want to see how you are creating
around the working area and use a personal dosimeter to record the amount of occupational a safer world! To submit a photo for
consideration, please email a high-resolution
radiation dose received.
photo (min. 300 dpi) along with a 100 to
SUBMITTED BY MUSTAFA GONULAL, CIMTAS – QUALITY CONTROL, BURSA GEMLIK, TURKEY 150 word description to MEeditor@asnt.org.

2302 ME Feb New.indd 72 1/23/23 7:36 AM

PAUT Immersion System
Automatic defect evaluation and work-

piece statistics
XYZ:800*600*400 mm (Customizable)
Repeated positioning accuracy:
less than 0.05 mm/m
System position resolution:
less than 0.01 mm
Scanning speed range: 1-500 mm/s
Portable PAUT device
NOVASCAN FLEXSCAN
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ASNT grants non-exclusive, non-transferable license of this material to |Mrcndoppler@cndoppler.com

WWW.CNDOPPLER.COM Udom Meephaungpol.
2302 ME Feb New.indd 3 1/23/23 7:36 AM

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Optimized Inspection Workflow with

WeldSight™ Software
With the WeldSight Remote Connect app, control the
unit’s acquisition and instantly view phased array data on
a PC. Increase your productivity using the customizable
user interface and advanced analysis tools and optimize
your equipment configuration to match your needs.
Available for Rent!

Inquire about our flexible rental options for the OmniScan X3 series.*
EvidentScientific.com
OmniScan, and WeldSight are trademarks of Evident Corporation or its subsidiaries.
*Renting OmniScan X3 64 units and WeldSight software available in the US only.
Evident_Materials_Evaluation_PCI_202212.indd 1 1/4/23 1:32 PM
2302 ME Feb New.indd 4 1/23/23 7:36 AM
All rights reserved. © A
ASNT grants non-exclu
FEBRUARY 2023 TOTAL FOCUSING METHOD VOL. 81 • NO. 2

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ULTRASONIC capability accommodates sources and

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