Non-Destructive Testing
AEA VALVE Quality Control department offers a wide range of Non-destructive testing (NDT) as first in-house investigation methods, for the evaluation of the properties of materials and valve components without causing damages, conducted by NDT Level 2 EN 473-ISO 9712 and SNT-TC-1A qualified personnel. No samples need to be cut during these examinations.
-VT (Visual Testing)
The Visual Testing is one of the most widely used test method to investigate the surface aspect and observe potential discontinuities or failures, which should be detected under proper lighting conditions, monitored by an instrument able to measure the light intensity, the light meter.
-UT (Ultrasonic Testing)
The Ultrasonic testing is often performed on raw materials but can be also performed on critical areas to have an accurate and reliable detection of material discontinuities: an ultrasonic transducer (Ultrasound test instrument) sends high-frequency vibrations into a material section to find discontinuities which, if found, reflect the vibrations back to the transducer; the result is translated and displayed on an oscilloscope to reveal their extent and location.
-PT (Penetrant Testing)
The Penetrant testing, also called Liquid or Dye Penetrant Inspection, is generally used to locate and detect surface defects (cracks, porosity, leaking points) on non-ferrous and ferrous materials: testing fluid (penetrant) penetrates into the surface-breaking discontinuities and, after adequate penetration time, a developer should be applied: the penetrant is drawn out by capillary action so that an invisible crack becomes visible.
-MT (Magnetic Particle Testing)
The Magnetic Particle Testing is generally used to locate and detect surface sub-surface discontinuities in ferromagnetic materials. The area to be tested is magnetized by direct electric current transmission by a magnetic joke; in case of discontinuity, the magnetic field flowing through the specimen is interrupted and leakage field occurs, iron particles are then applied to the detected area and cluster to form an indication directly over the discontinuity. The indication can be visually detected under proper lighting conditions.
-PMI (Positive Material Identification)
The Positive Material Identification is the elemental identification and quantitative determination in percentage of metallic alloys, without regard to form, size and shape, performed by highly sophisticated portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometer in our possession, Niton XLT 898.
-Hardness Testing
The Hardness Testing can be performed with a portable Rockwell tester to determinate the hardness of a material.
-Ferrite Testing
The Ferrite Testing is the ferrite content analysis performed on austenitic stainless steel and duplex valve components to allow evaluation of material corrosion susceptibility, mechanical properties, service suitability and reliability. It can be performed by portable digital Feritscope as, for example, our Fisher FMP30, for rapid and accurate analysis.
