Liquid penetration testing involves applying a penetrant to the surface of a component to reveal surface-breaking flaws. The penetrant is drawn into flaws by capillary action and then removed from the surface and developed to highlight the flaws. The process involves cleaning, applying penetrant, removing excess penetrant, applying a developer, and visual inspection. It can detect small surface flaws but only on non-porous surfaces where the penetrant can enter flaws.

1. Liquid penetration test
• Liquid penetrant inspection is a method that is used to reveal surface
breaking flaws by bleed out of a colored or fluorescent dye from the flaw.
• The technique is based on the ability of a liquid to be drawn into a "clean"
surface breaking flaw by capillary action.
• After a period of time called the "dwell," excess surface penetrant is
removed and a developer applied. It draws the penetrant from the flaw to
reveal its presence.
• Colored (contrast) penetrants require good white light while fluorescent
penetrants need to be used in darkened conditions with an ultraviolet
"black light".

2. 1. Surface Preparation:
• One of the most critical steps of a liquid
penetrant inspection is the surface preparation.
• The surface must be free of oil, grease, water, or
other contaminants that may prevent penetrant
from entering flaws.
• The sample may also require etching if
mechanical operations such as machining,
sanding, or grit blasting have been performed.
• These and other mechanical operations can
smear metal over the flaw opening and prevent
the penetrant from entering

3. 2. Penetrant Application:
• Once the surface has been thoroughly cleaned
and dried, the penetrant material is applied by
spraying, brushing, or immersing the part in a
penetrant bath.

4. 3.Penetrant Dwell:
• The penetrant is left on the surface for a sufficient
time to allow as much penetrant as possible to be
drawn from or to seep into a defect.
• 2.Penetrant dwell time is the total time that the
penetrant is in contact with the part surface.
• 3.Dwell times are usually recommended by the
penetrant producers or required by the specification
being followed.

5. • 4.The times vary depending on the application,
penetrant materials used, the material, the form
of the material being inspected, and the type of
defect being inspected for.
• 5.Minimum dwell times typically range from five
to 60 minutes. Generally, there is no harm in
using a longer penetrant dwell time as long as the
penetrant is not allowed to dry.
• 6.The ideal dwell time is often determined by
experimentation and may be very specific to a
particular application.

6. 4.Excess Penetrant Removal:
• This is the most delicate part of the inspection
procedure because the excess penetrant must be
removed from the surface of the sample while
removing as little penetrant as possible from defects.
Depending on the penetrant system used, this step
may involve cleaning with a solvent, direct rinsing
with water, or first treating the part with an
emulsifier and then rinsing with water.

7. Advantages
1)The method has high sensitivity to small surface
discontinuities.
2)The method has few material limitations, i.e. metallic
and nonmetallic, magnetic and nonmagnetic, and
conductive and nonconductive materials may be
inspected.
3)Large areas and large volumes of parts/materials can be
inspected rapidly and at low cost.
4)Parts with complex geometric shapes are routinely
inspected.
5)Indications are produced directly on the surface of the
part and constitute a visual representation of the flaw.
6)Aerosol spray cans make penetrant materials very
portable.
7)Penetrant materials and associated equipment are
relatively inexpensive.

8. Disadvantages
• 1)Only surface breaking defects can be detected.
• 2)Only materials with a relatively nonporous surface can be
inspected.
• 3)Pre-cleaning is critical since contaminants can mask
defects.
• 4)Metal smearing from machining, grinding, and grit or
vapor blasting must be removed prior to LPI.
• 5)The inspector must have direct access to the surface
being inspected.
• 6)Surface finish and roughness can affect inspection
sensitivity.
• 7)Multiple process operations must be performed and
controlled.
• 8)Post cleaning of acceptable parts or materials is required.
• 9)Chemical handling and proper disposal is required

9. 1) Clean & Dry Component
2) Apply Penetrant
3) Remove Excess
4) Apply developer
5) Visual Inspection
6) post clean component

10. Choices of Penetrant Materials Penetrant Type
• I Fluorescent
• II Visible
Method
• A Water Washable
• B Postemulsifiable - Lipophilic
• C Solvent Removable
• D Postemulsifiable
Hydrophilic Developer Form
Dry Powder
• Wet, Water Soluble
• Wet, Water Suspendable
• Wet, Non-Aqueous

11. History
Ultrasonic Testing is the discovery of Curie the
brothers in 1880 that the quartz crystal cut in a
certain way produces an electric potential subjected
to pressure. In 1881 Lippmann theorized that the
effect might work in reverse. The first flaw detector
was made by D O Sproule in 1942.

12. Definition of ultrasonic
Ultrasonic Testing (UT) uses high frequency sound
energy to conduct examinations and make
measurements. Ultrasonic inspection can be used for
flaw detection/evaluation, dimensional measurements,
material characterization, and more
delamination
plate
0 2 4 6 8 10
IP
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13. A typical UT inspection system consists of several functional
units, such as
• the pulsar/receiver
• transducer
• display devices.
A pulsar/receiver is an electronic device that can produce high
voltage electrical pulse. Driven by the pulsar, the transducer
generates high frequency ultrasonic energy.

14. The sound energy is introduced and propagates through the
materials in the form of waves. When there is a discontinuity
(such as a crack) in the ultrasonic sound path, part of the
energy will be reflected back from the flaw surface, part of
energy will be transmitted through the object and part of
energy will be absorbed within the material.
Transducer:
The reflected ultrasonic sound energy signal is transformed
into electrical signal by the transducer and is displayed on a
screen called Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). The reflected signal is
displayed with respect to the time and strength (amplitude).

15. Display unit:
• Signal travel time can be directly related to the
distance that the signal travelled. From the
signal, information about the discontinuity
location, size, orientation and other features
can sometimes be gained.

16. Applications:
• Ultrasonic inspection is used for quality control and
materials inspection in all major industries.
• Ultrasonic inspection is used for finding flaws in production
of metallic and composite materials.
• It is used in fabrication of structures such as airframes,
piping and pressure vessels, ships, motor vehicles,
machinery, jet engines and submarines.
• In-service ultrasonic inspection for preventive maintenance
is used for detecting the impending failure of rails, rolling-
stock axils, mill rolls, mining equipment and nuclear
systems.
• Also used for thickness measurement in refinery and
chemical pressure vessels
• Many more in medical, rail track inspection, liquid height
measurements, material analysis.

17. • Ultrasonic energy is used in welding of plastics; high frequency (15 kHz to
40 kHz) low amplitude vibration is used to create heat by way of friction
between the materials to be joined. The interface of the two parts is
specially designed to concentrate the energy for the maximum weld
strength.
• Ultrasonic used as a method of cleaning intricate and difficult to clean
parts has been available for many years within a wide range of industries.
• Thickness gauging is an example application where instruments have been
refined make data collection easier and better.
• Many ultrasonic flaw detectors have a trigonometric function that allows
for fast and accurate location determination of flaws.
• 1. Inspection of large weldments, castings and forging, for internal
soundness, before carrying out expensive machining operations.
2. Inspection of moving strip or plate (for laminations) as regards its
thickness.
3. Routine inspection of locomotive axles and wheel pins for fatigue
cracks.
4. Inspection of rails for bolt-hole breaks without dismantling rail-end
assemblies

18. Advantages:
• It is sensitive to both surface and subsurface discontinuities.
• The depth of penetration for flaw detection or measurement
is superior to other NDT methods.
• Only single-sided access is needed when the pulse-echo
technique is used.
• It is high accuracy in determining reflector position and
estimating size and shape.
• Minimal part preparation required.
• Electronic equipment provides instantaneous results.

19. • It has other uses such as thickness measurements, in addition
to flaw detection.
• It is a fast and reliable method of non-destructive inspection.
• This method of locating flaws with metal objects is more
sensitive than radiography
• The minimum flaw size which can be detected is equal to
about 0.1 % of the distance from the probe to the defect.
• Big weldments can be systematically scanned for initial
detection of major defects.

20. Limitations:
 Surface must be accessible to transmit ultrasound.
 Skill and training is more extensive than with some other methods.
 It normally requires a coupling medium to promote transfer of sound energy into
test specimen.
 Materials that are rough, irregular in shape, very small, exceptionally thin or not
homogeneous are difficult to inspect.
 Cast iron and other coarse grained materials are difficult to inspect due to low
sound transmission and high signal noise.
 Linear defects oriented parallel to the sound beam may go undetected.
• Reference standards are required for both equipment calibration and evaluation of
defects.