Liquid Penetrant Testing

Discontinuities which can be revealed by penetrant

inspection:
opened - clean, without coating, and electroplating,
hot and cold cracks, fatigue cracks, hardening cracks, pitting,
porosity,
shallow defects cause of fatigue cracks,
minimum dimensions of detected defects (cracks): 1m
wide, 10 mm depth and 1 mm in length.
it is possible to detect material discontinuities of semifinished and finished products, with even the most
complicated shapes

Liquid Penetrant Testing

Discontinuities which can be revealed by penetrant inspection:
Examples:

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)

cold crack
hot crack
grinding crack
shrinking crack
stress
corrosion crack
porosity
bubbles
foam structure
shrinkage
porosity

Liquid Penetrant Testing

Workpieces tested by liquid penetrant can not
be highly porous (ceramic, wood) and have
high roughness (metals).
Materials used for testing (solvent, penetrant
or developer) can not react with tested
workpieces (plastic).

Liquid Penetrant Testing is based on penetration

the liquids (called penetrant) with low surface
tension, proper viscosity, wettability and low
density
The wettability phenomena

a) < 90 - good wetting

b) and c ) < 90 - poor wetting

Liquid Penetrant Testing

The capilary rise phenomenon

(a)< 90 - capillary rise

(b)= 90 - no capillary
depression or rise.
(c)> 90 - capillary depression

Liquid
Penetrant
Testing
Lipophilic and
hydrophilic
postemulsifiable penetrants

Liquid Penetrant Testing

There are 5 stages of the

penetrant inspection
1.Surface preparation
- cleaning, drying, oil and rust free
surface (and other contaminantion)

Liquid Penetrant Testing

2. Penetration
- after cleaning operation penetrant is applied
into the surface in the form of thin liquid film,
- the film should remain on the surface
depends of the penetration time called as a
dwell time (recomendation of the penetrant
producer, mosty between 5 to 20min).

Liquid Penetrant Testing

3. Removal of excess penetrant
excess penetrant must be removed from the
surface, removing method depends of the type of
penetrant.
many penetrants easily removed with water;
others require the use of emulsifiers (lipophilic or
hydrophilic) or solvent/remover.
removing of excessive penetrant is necessary for
effective inspection, but overremoval must be
avoided (no discontinuities will be revealed).

Liquid Penetrant Testing

4. Development
developer starts seepage procees of
the penetrant,
time of developing depends of the
developing agent used (mostly
between 5 to 20min.)

Liquid Penetrant Testing

5. Inspection
after developing process the surface is visually
examined for indications of penetrant which is
visible like a colored stains.
visible penetrant inspection is performed in white
light,
when the fluorescent penetrant is used,
inspection is performed in a dark room under
ultraviolet light, (penetrant is shinning).

Advantages of Penetrant Testing

Relative ease of use.
Can be used on a wide range of material types.
Large areas or large volumes of parts/materials can be

inspected rapidly and at low cost.

Parts with complex geometries are routinely inspected.
Indications are produced directly on surface of the part
providing a visual image of the discontinuity.
Initial equipment investment is low.
Aerosol spray cans can make equipment very portable.

Limitations of Penetrant Testing

Only detects surface breaking defects.
Requires relatively smooth nonporous material.
Precleaning is critical. Contaminants can mask defects.
Requires multiple operations under controlled
conditions.
Chemical handling precautions necessary (toxicity, fire,
waste).
Metal smearing from machining, grinding and other
operations inhibits detection. Materials may need to be
etched prior to inspection.
Post cleaning is necessary to remove chemicals.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

MAGNETIC PARTICLE INSPECTION
Method of locating surface and subsurface discontinuities
in ferromagnetic materials.
When the material or part under test is magnetized,
magnetic discontinuities that lie in a direction generally
transverse to the direction of the magnetic field cause
a leakage field to be formed at and above the surface of the
part.
The discontinuity, is detected by the use of finely divided
ferromagnetic particles applied over the surface, with some
of the particles being gathered and held by the leakage field.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Limitation for Magnetic Particle Testing:
The method can be used only on ferromagnetic materials,
For best results, the magnetic field must be in a direction that will
intercept the principal plane of the discontinuity; this
sometimes requires two or more sequential inspections with
different magnetizations,
Demagnetization following inspection is often necessary,
Postcleaning to remove remnants of the magnetic particles
clinging to the surface may sometimes be required after testing and
demagnetization,
Exceedingly large currents are sometimes needed for very large parts,
Care is necessary to avoid local heating and burning of finished parts
or surfaces at the points of electrical contact
Although magnetic particle indications are easily seen, experience
and skill are sometimes needed to judge their significance.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
Metals which conduct magnetic field:
elements:
iron,
nickel,
cobalt,

alloys:
cast iron
carbon steel

Ferromagnetic Materials
A material is considered ferromagnetic if it can be
magnetized. Materials with a significant Iron, nickel or cobalt
content are generally ferromagnetic.
Ferromagnetic materials are made up of many regions in
which the magnetic fields of atoms are aligned. These
regions are call magnetic domains.
Magnetic domains point randomly in demagnetized material,
but can be aligned using electrical current or an external
magnetic field to magnetize the material.
S

Demagnetized

Magnetized

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Directions of the discontinuities

Magnetic Testing (MT)

The ways of magnetization

long
i

tuda
l

circular

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Magnetizing current

Both direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac) are suitable for
magnetizing parts for magnetic particle inspection.
The strength, direction, and distribution of magnetic fields are
greatly affected by the type of current used for magnetization.
The important difference with regard to magnetic particle inspection
is that the fields produced by direct current generally penetrate
the cross section of the part, while the fields produced by
alternating current are confined to the metal at or near the
surface of the part, a phenomenon known as the skin effect.
Therefore, alternating current should not be used in searching for
subsurface discontinuities.

Magnetic Testing (MT)

Yokes

Two basic types of yokes that

are commonly used for
magnetizing purposes:
permanent-magnet,
electromagnetic yokes.
Both are hand held and
therefore quite mobile.

Dry Magnetic Particles

Magnetic particles come in a variety of colors. A
color that produces a high level of contrast
against the background should be used.

Wet Magnetic Particles

Wet particles are typically supplied as visible or
fluorescent. Visible particles are viewed under
normal white light and fluorescent particles are
viewed under black light.

Toe Crack in SMAW Weld

Visible, Dry Powder Method

Advantages of Magnetic Particle

Inspection
Can detect both surface and near sub-surface

defects.
Can inspect parts with irregular shapes easily.
Precleaning of components is not as critical as it is for
some other inspection methods. Most contaminants
within a flaw will not hinder flaw detectability.
Fast method of inspection and indications are visible
directly on the specimen surface.
Considered low cost compared to many other NDT
methods.
Is a very portable inspection method especially
when used with battery powered equipment.

Limitations of Magnetic Particle

Inspection
Cannot inspect non-ferrous materials such as

aluminum, magnesium or most stainless steels.

Inspection of large parts may require use of equipment
with special power requirements.
Some parts may require removal of coating or plating
to achieve desired inspection sensitivity.
Limited subsurface discontinuity detection capabilities.
Maximum depth sensitivity is approximately 0.6
(under ideal conditions).
Post cleaning, and post demagnetization is often
necessary.
Alignment between magnetic flux and defect is
important