AIRCRAFT

STRUCTURE

Topic 7.3: Non Destructive Inspection

Techniques
 INTRODUCTION
On completion of this topic you should be able to:

7.3 Describe non destructive inspection techniques including the following :

• Penetrant,
• Radiographic,
• Eddy current,
• Ultrasound and
• Borescope methods.

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 DYE PENETRANT

Dye penetrant is the most common

of all NDI techniques and is used on
non-porous metal and non-metal
components to find material
discontinuities that are open to the
surface but not visible to the naked
eye.

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 DYE PENETRANT

This technique is achieved in

three basic steps:
• Apply penetrant to
prepared surface.
• Excess penetrant is
removed.
• Developer is applied to
encourage bleed out of
retained penetrant.

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 DYE PENETRANT
Penetrant can be applied to the surface in different ways, the preferred method is
immersion, brushing or swabbing the penetrant on to the inspection area, although
some manufactures supply it in aerosol cans for application in small localised areas.

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 DYE PENETRANT
Depending on the type of penetrant, it is removed with either a course
water spray, an emulsifying agent or a solvent.

Water-soluble penetrants are the easiest to remove. Water is sprayed

at 30-40 PSI on an angle of 45º to prevent the dye from being flush
from the defect.

Post-emulsifying penetrants are not water soluble. These penetrants

must be treated with an emulsifier before it can be washed from the
surface.

Solvent-removable penetrants can only be clean up with solvent that is

sprayed onto an absorbent towel, the part should not be spayed with
solvent or submerged in it as this will flush all penetrant from defects.

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 DEVELOPERS
There are three different types of developer used to draw penetrants from faults.
Each has it’s own application technique although they all do the same job.

Dry developer - is a powder

material similar to talc that
adheres to the penetrant and
draws it out of the defects
providing a visual
identification.

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 DEVELOPERS
Wet developer - is similar to the dry type except it is suspended in water and is flowed
over the component and air dried then is inspected as you would for dry type.

Nonaqueous developer - has the chalk type powder suspended in a solvent and can be
sprayed from an aerosol pack giving greater control over application.

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 BLACK LIGHT
Penetrants are often treated with a fluorescent dye which can be seen with
the aide of a black light.

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 DYE PENETRANT
Dye penetrant can only detect defects that
are open to the surface ,and cannot be used
on composite structure as the chemicals
used can have an adverse effect on the
composite material.

The main advantage of dye penetrant is its

portability - it can be used in most line
applications and can be used on small
localised areas or whole components can be
inspected.
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 EDDY CURRENT
Eddy current inspection is one of the electronic inspection methods, it requires
little preparation and can detect surface and subsurface defects.

There are two

methods of eddy
current inspection.

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 EDDY CURRENT

Absolute method - uses a test

specimen and measures the
differences between the test piece and
the part being inspected.

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 EDDY CURRENT
Comparison method - uses a double coil probe and indicates the differences
between the material under the reference probe and that under the test probe.

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 EDDY CURRENT

Eddy current instruments with a 2 dimensional display indicate a crack as a

stretched loop.

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 ULTRASONIC

Ultrasonic inspection is the only

Electronic method that can be
used on plastic ceramic and most
metals.

The tester transmits sonic

vibrations through the material
and measures the return signal.

A test specimen is used to set the

reference points.

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 ULTRASONIC INSPECTION

There are two main methods of

ultrasonic inspection:
• Pulse echo
• Through transmission

Both methods require expensive

equipment and very well trained
operators.

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 ULTRASONIC

When a fault is found it presents

itself as an extra peak between
the two reference peaks.

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 RADIOGRAPHIC
Radiographic inspection is an
important method of NDT, as it
can give a photograph
interpretation of the inside of a
component or material

This process is used to detect

water trapped in honey comb core
in composite sandwich structures.

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 BORESCOPE

Allows inspection of internal

engine components without
disassembling the engine.

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 FIBEROPTIC BORESCOPE
Similar to a standard borescope, but has a flexible probe that can
bend around corners.

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 FIBEROPTIC BORESCOPE

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 VIDEO BORESCOPE

Similar to fiberoptic scope except the

image is projected onto tiny light-
sensitive chip in the control module
where it is recorded and transmitted
digitally to a monitor

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 CONCLUSION
Now that you have completed this topic, you should be able to:

7.3 Describe non destructive inspection techniques including the following :

• Penetrant,
• Radiographic,
• Eddy current,
• Ultrasound and
• Borescope methods.

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 This concludes Topic 7.3:
Non Destructive Inspection Techniques

Your next topic is

7.4 Disassembly and Assembly Techniques.
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