When quality checking pipe fittings and pipework it is sometime necessary to deploy a range of techniques depending on the circumstance and exactly what it is that is being investigated.

Whilst Liquid Penetrant Inspection can detect flaws in the surface of a material and Magnetic Particle Inspection can indicate flaws within a material, they cannot identify the thickness of materials and particularly when a component has been in use they cannot identify internal corrosion.

For this it is necessary to use a technique called Ultrasonic Inspection. As its name implies this uses sound to detect flaws. An ultrasound transducer is passed over the sample to be inspected, emitting sound waves from 0.1MHz up to 50MHz. As the sound waves hit any irregularity or the far side of the material they are reflected back. The detector picks up these reflections and the time taken to receive them indicates the distance travelled and hence the thickness or location of the flaw.

This is a particularly useful method to use on pipework or pipe fittings that are already installed as it is possible to determine exactly how thick the wall material is and therefore how much corrosion has taken place.

An alternative method is to locate the detector on the inside of the sample. Here the sound is attenuated by the material and any hidden defects will determine how much the sound is attenuated by.

At Chemipetro we can employ all these quality test procedures and also assist with diagnostics for existing installations with our 24 hour call out service.