CASE STUDIES

on
NDE based defect detection
Deepesh. V
Manager
NDTL / Quality
BHEL, Trichy-14
E-mail: deepesh@bheltry.co.in
Ph.: +91-9489054004
 Spurious indications in the MT of nozzle weld

• Dished end nozzle joint of 700 MWe Nuclear Steam generator

• 20Mn Mo Ni 55 Material
• Spurious indications due to Permeability variation between weld
and parent metal regions
• No indications revealed in supplementary UT and RT
• Selected regions subjected to local etching, hardness, micro
testing- found no unacceptable discontinuities
• Cross beading layer deposited over the welds
 Indications in MT of Raw material plates

Plate MT indications Micro examination image-100 X

• A microstructure of banded polygonal grains of ferrite and pearlite

• At the centre line thickness the spacing of the banding is very closer than the other
locations
 Application of coil method for inter-pass MT

• Root / inter layer Indications detected during RT and UT

call for removal of deposited weld material
• Huge loss of time, and additional cost in the case of boiler
header joints (butt welds)
• Early detection of defects at lower thickness stage of the
weld
• Coil MT method
 Geometric indications in UT
Separator vessel nozzle fillet welds in 660MWe Super critical Boilers
Shear wave probe(60 Deg.)

UFD Screen
Geometric signal

Amplitude
Distance (Beam path)
 Mode conversion indications in UT
Mode converted beam

Defect signal
Amplitude

Mode converted signal

Distance (Beam path)
Wrong location assessment in UT
• Feeder pipe joints in Reactor
headers
• Digital UT flaw detector
• Wrong marking of defects
• Special correction factors required
for each region
 Defect eclipse in UT
• Butt welds, Plates etc.
• Discontinuities masking other discontinuities lying behind them
• Supplementary methods-Additional angles, Phased array UT etc.
Phased Array UT imaging for defect characterization

Gated C-scan

PAUT display types

Sectorial scan
Detection of Side wall lack of fusion in RT
Source position 2
Source position 1
Source position 3
SFD issues in outsourced RT works
Claimed source position

Actual source position

IQI
Defect
 Conclusions
• Every NDE method has inherent limitations and advantages
• Every NDE method is complimentary to other methods
• Input parameters matter!
• Competency of personnel is vital
• Balancing customer & producer risks
• Advanced NDE techniques- enhanced reliability & productivity