Conventional ultrasonic testing techniques are typically used for assessing wall thickness in metal objects and detection of discontinuities in metal.  For many applications, however, requirements for more detailed information or for different types of signal interpretation cannot be provided by conventional ultrasonic methods.  Advanced ultrasonic testing (involving different configurations of transducers and receivers, or enhancement with electronics, robotics, computing or imaging) can often provide far greater detail, multi-dimensional data, and different types of information, leading to inferences and interpretations not available from conventional methods.

Some advanced ultrasonic methods used in support of structural integrity analysis include:

• Time of flight diffraction: often used for flaw detection in welds
• Phased array ultrasonics: multiple transducer system, often used on piping and heavy walled vessels or plate
• Automated UT systems: for inspection of continuous surfaces
• Acoustical microscopy: for detailed study of detected flaws
• Enhanced signal processing: to extract more information from testing data
• Imaging: to provide visualizations of flaws
• Protocols for inferring material properties: to produce condition assessment findings in a reproducible manner

Quest Reliability has extensive experience with all of the above methods, and is skilled in using ultrasonics in conjunction with other testing methods and testing data to produce the characterizations required by customers.

For further information about the ultrasonic testing methods that we can offer, please contact us.