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Automated Stand for Non-Destructive Testing Evaluation of Metal Products

Problem be used for evaluating products quality: - Destructive evaluation, in which the product is destroyed in order to analyse its properties and internal structure; - Non destructive evaluation (NDE), used for identifying defect and irregularities, without damaging the product. These non destructive evaluation methods include [1-4]: ‐ Visual and optical testing – VT; ‐ Magnetic particle testing – MT; ‐ Liquid penetrant testing –PT; ‐ Radiographic testing – RT ; ‐ Ultrasounds testing – UT; ‐ Eddy current testing – ET; One of the most frequently used method of non destructive examination is PT or dye penetrant testing (DPT), due to the low costs involved, ease of use and flexibility, suitability to a large number of applications. This method evaluates the presence of open discontinuities (or cracks) on the surface part, based on reverse capillary action and on the developer absorption effect which draw out penetrant and produces indications visible for the inspector (see fig.1 for a principle scheme of LP examination [5]). Although widely used, PT has several disadvantages: - Limitation to surface defects or to the defects which communicates with the surface; - Only products with non porous surfaces (or with low porosity) can be inspected; - Important amount of time used for manipulating the parts during inspection; - Results interpretation heavily depends on subjective aspects such as operator experience, knowledge and motivation. In order to eliminate or reduce the operator involvement in the process steps, research has being made for automating the process, such examples of liquid penetrant inspection lines can be found in [10-15]. However, in all analysed automated PT systems, the inspection is still made visually by an inspector, who gives a pass/fail grade for the inspected parts. The difficulty of fully automating the liquid penetrant inspection process is due not only to the necessity to precisely determine and control process parameters (dwell time, developer time, drying time, quantity of penetrant, developer and cleaning water, pressure for spraying solutions with penetrant, developer and cleaning water, transport speed, etc.) but also to the evaluation and results interpretation process. Thus, even if there are patents [16-17] which present approaches and general frameworks for fully-automated LPT systems, including also automatic image processing of the flaws, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, these equipment are not yet implemented. In this context, this paper presents an experimental stand for a fully automated liquid penetrant inspection line, which includes the development and use of dedicated imaging software used for real time interpretation of the images acquired using a digital camera. The novelty of the research consist in designing and building a fully-automated LPT stand, controlled by a soft which contains also a module for acquisition and image processing in real time without no human implication.

Alternative welding reconditioning solutions without post welding heat treatment of pressure vessel

In pressure vessels, working on high temperature and high pressure may appear some defects, cracks for example, which may lead to failure in operation. When these nonconformities are identified, after certain examination, testing and result interpretation, the decision taken is to repair or to replace the deteriorate component. In the current legislation its stipulated that any repair, alteration or modification to an item of pressurised equipment that was originally post-weld heat treated after welding (PWHT) should be post-weld heat treated again after repair, requirement that cannot always be respected. For that reason, worldwide, there were developed various welding repair techniques without PWHT, among we find the Half Bead Technique (HBT) and Controlled Deposition Technique (CDT). The paper presents the experimental results obtained by applying the welding reconditioning techniques HBT and CDT in order to restore as quickly as possible the pressure vessels made of 13CrMo4-5. The effects of these techniques upon the heat affected zone are analysed, the graphics of the hardness variation are drawn and the resulted structures are compared in the two cases.

Experimental Study towards Heterogeneous Welded Joint, Case Study: Welding Joint of Carbon Steel S235JR + AR with Stainless Steel 316L

In manufacturing industry there are many applications for the permanent joint of components of different shapes, but they are also very different in terms of chemical composition and structure [1, 2]. This paper is trying to find technological solutions of assembling by welding of two steels with totally different chemical composition, i.e. carbon steel S235JR + AR and austenitic stainless 316L. The process used for making the heterogeneous joint was Metal Inert Gas (MIG) with flux cored wire, numerically coded 137. The paper presents the effects of welding technology, through heat input, such as hardness. Variations of hardness values determined in the joint areas are presented, as well as the chemical composition of the welded joint obtained using the flux cored wire T 23 12 LPM 1/C1, according to EN ISO 17633 - A.

Software Application for Welding Processes and Control Optimization

Currently, when design engineering ensures operational security by fully taking into account reliability studies, it is of primary importance to have an encompassing understanding of the welding processes and all implicit problems that may arise, not only during their implementation phase but also after completion, in order to be able to avoid material losses. It is also necessary to have a full understanding of the imperfections that may occur in welded joints, their causes and the impact they can have on the operating endurance of the products, in order to be able to accurately determine if a product meets the required quality criteria. Thus, the development of software applications which can provide information regarding welding processes may be an important achievement for the education and industry. The software application presented in this paper provides information on the description of welding processes, welding parameters selection and calculation, types of materials and their classification in groups, as well as information about the types of imperfections, their causes, limits of acceptability and non-destructive examination methods for welded joints.