NDT Essentials for the Failure Analyst

t's typical for 3rd party failure analysts to stop at a failure conclusion and root cause identification, but for most industry, manufacturing, energy, or transportation sector employees it's just the beginning. In a lot of instances there's a shift to customer risk mitigation, inventory sorting, or life expectancy estimates. Non-destructive testing (NDT) is almost always the path of choice, but it's not as easy as saying "Go!".

There's a lot of things to consider when working to deploy a NDT inspection method. First and foremost is whether personnel are properly trained and able to correctly set-up an inspection method. Then, what NDT method is appropriate for the application and will meet any potential volume needs or inspection timeline requirements? Does the method have appropriate resolution to ensure detectability? Even if you can confidently identify a defect, what's acceptable and what's not? By the way, are you sure that's a crack? Or is it more appropriate to identify it as an indication until you've been able to confirm through other inspection and analysis methods?

There's a lot that goes into ensuring NDT inspections are appropriate, accurate, and well defined. After all, your customer is depending on it. Come learn about some of the basics and participate in an interactive discussion about how YOU can help support the work after failure analysis by integrating the potential use of NDT into your conclusions.