Kirkwood Non-Destructive Testing Services
Kirkwood Drone Inspection
Using drones is quickly becoming a common inspection method. The biggest attraction is offering a safe way to inspect confined spaces and inspected areas high in the air. With todays advanced cameras they are capable of doing a very good visual inspection. Some drones offer infrared capabilities. This allows the operator to look for hot or cold spots on equipment, structures or solar panels. Smaller drones make for good options to investigate or inspect confined spaces. Larger drones are capable of using or deploying Ultrasonics to perform thickness readings on hard to reach places. To use a drone for commercial purposes the operator must have a FAA license.
Kirkwood, PA American Welding Society (AWS)
Founded in 1919 the American Welding Society (AWS) is a nonprofit organization that is made up of members and panels of members. They are yearly contributing to advancing the science, technology, and application of welding and allied joining and cutting processes worldwide, including brazing, soldering and thermal spraying. Many well-known certifications come from AWS. The CWI or Certified Welding Inspector is one of them. Integrity Testlabs has in house and contract CWI qualified workers to meet the need of any project.
Kirkwood, PA Visual Testing (VT)
Probably the most important inspection technique and one we are gifted with is visual testing with our eyes. This is a very common, low cost, quick and effective way to inspect welding, equipment, and coatings. Visual testing is the most important tool for a Certified Welding Inspector (CWI), It’s a certification you can acquire through ASNT or with your company by ASNT TC 1A. Defects commonly found using visual inspection is excessive reinforcement, underfill, undercut, porosity, cold lap. If able to access the inside or root of the weld its possible to see lack of fusion, or incomplete penetration.
C-scan, Shearwave and Phased Array
Automated Corrosion Mapping uses C-scan to do corrosion maps to find flaws on the shells of equipment and piping. AUT can produce very detailed reports for clients to visually see where the corrosion is happening. Shearwave uses high frequency sound waves to identify flaws in the material. Sensitive to surface and subsurface discontinuities it’s a superior inspection tool wen compared to other NDT processes. Phased Array is known for its capabilities to send multiple singles into material to produce highly repeatable results and detailed and accurate cross sections of components. This makes Phased Array a needed to tool to inspect complex shaped parts.
Kirkwood, PA API 580
API 580 was developed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) in 2002. It is primarily adopted in oil and chemical refineries for developing programs to track and maintain inspections in keys areas of the piping or equipment that is affected by the process it contains. API 580 is program will keep workers and communities safe from releases or catastrophic failures. Integrity Testlabs has provided support for API 580 by providing Radiographic inspections and Ultrasonic Thickness inspections on piping, shells of exchangers, towers and drums. Radiography provides an actual imagine of the corrosion that is occurring and UT grids can provide a visual by numbers on where wall loss is happening.
ANST Level I and Assistants
Becoming certified or learning about Nondestructive testing can be achieved in two ways. Enrolling in a school that provides a certificate or degree or getting hired on with a company with no knowledge of the industry and learning on the job. Typically 40hrs of radiation safety is the first step/certificate that is needed to get started. Once the Assistant has had some time in the industry the company will provide them with classroom training either in house, computer based or sending them to a course provided by a known 3rd party. When the Assistants meets the required OJT hours and classroom time. They will test with the company they are with by completing a specific, general and practical exams. When this is completed, they are now a Level II technician.
