We hope you were able to join us in Houston, TX for ASNT 2018. If you couldn’t make it or need a refresher, catch up by checking out three of our most popular presentations.
Fluorescent Dye Penetrant Inspections Using Videoscopes
Fluorescent dye penetrant is a well-established type of visual inspection. Recent advances in miniaturizing ultraviolet (UV) light sources have enabled videoscopes to be used for this inspection.
Some modern videoscopes now have an internal UV light source, making it easier to inspect castings, inside aviation engines, automotive frames, and more.
Current standards were developed for fluorescent dye penetrant inspections that were done at a longer distance, used a larger light source, and where the human eye was the imaging tool. While current videoscopes meet some of the requirements of these standards, they do not officially fall under the standard’s purview.
Presentation courtesy ASNT
Nontraditional Applications of XRF for Quality Assurance and Quality Control
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is unique among nondestructive testing methods in that it primarily provides information on material composition rather than physical integrity. Historically, the principal use for XRF has been in positive material identification (PMI), most notably for applications involving alloy grade matching. But the scope of XRF applications is expanding as nontraditional uses are identified in process control in manufacturing and production. Improvements in limits of detection, analytical precision, and increased element suites are enabling the exploration and discovery of applications for XRF in new sectors of inspection. Moreover, software improvements enhance ease of use as well as implementation in online processes and systems integration. Several case studies of nontraditional XRF applications will be highlighted in this paper, including manufacturing, robotics, industrial geochemistry, and cloud enablement. These case studies draw on examples from multiple industry segments with the problem, data, and solution detailed for each. Principles for design and applications for solving novel problems as well as analytical precision and technological limitations will also be outlined.
Presentation courtesy ASNT
Tool Wear Detection and Quantitation by Digital Microscopy
Excessive tool wear can make workpiece dimensions become out of tolerance or even cause injury and equipment damage. Therefore, tool wear detection has a considerable economic impact by reducing the amount of scrapped parts, lost working days, and equipment downtime. Typically, tool wear is assessed qualitatively by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which offers high spatial resolution and a large depth of field. However, due to SEM’s large depth of field, accurate distance and height measurements remain a technical challenge. In contrast, the shallow depth of field of conventional optical microscopy makes the technique suitable for accurate distance measurements but restricts its application to flat samples. In addition, the contrast in conventional brightfield microscopy images is generally low due to glare from metallic surfaces. In this paper, I describe the benefits of digital microscopy and show how they overcome the disadvantages of conventional optical microscopy for the detection and quantitation of tool wear. In particular, a combination of brightfield and darkfield illumination with high dynamic range imaging significantly reduces glare from tool surfaces. Motorized focus control enables three-dimensional imaging of the cutting edge for accurate length, height, and area measurements of worn sections.
Presentation courtesy ASNT
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