PRACTICE OF TESTING STRESSED STATE,

FATIGUE AND LIFETIME OF WELDED JOINTS

BASED ON MEASUREMENTS OF MAGNETIC
CHARECTERISTIC – COERCIVE FORCE.

Gennadiy Bezlyudko, Roman Solomakha,

Special Scientific Engineering company, Kharkov, Ukraine.

B.V.Baskaran, eta Weld Tech (India) Pvt Limited, India

E_mail: etaweld@gmail.com

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 Contents

1. Basic physics of metal fatigue state NDT by coercive force

measurements.
2. Principles of NDT of welded joints by coercive force
measurements.
3. Practical testing results of the welded joints.
4. Devices for metal nondestructive testing working by means
of coercive force measurements.
5. Conclusions.

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 Contents

1. Basic physics of metal fatigue state NDT by coercive force

measurements.
2. Principles of NDT of welded joints by coercive force
measurements.
3. Practical testing results of the welded joints.
4. Devices for metal nondestructive testing working by means
of coercive force measurements.
5. Conclusions.

www.snr-ndt.com
 Information magnetic characteristics used for NDT.

Нс coercive force
for testing of metal
fatigue state, stressed
state and lifetime

Magnetic hysteresis loop of metal sample from

ferromagnetic material (carbon steel, iron, etc.)

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Analogy of "mechanical" and "coercimetering"
diagrams of loading.

**
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Typical diagram of loading by measurements of magnetic
characteristic – coercive force Нс.

Coercive force Нс increases by 2-3

times, from Нс0 to Нсв under the
effect of operational loads !
Such increase of 200-300%
(depending on the grade of metal)
allows using coercive force for
effective nondestructive testing of
fatigue state of metal, if this efficiency
is combined with user-friendly
instrument realization.
Such diagram is typical for any kind
of steels with particular values of
starting Hc0 and pre-destruction HcB.
Difference (HcB - Hc0) is the value that
represent the lifetime of steelwork.
By current value of Hcx the spent and residual life time easily can be determined.
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 Contents

1. Basic physics of metal fatigue state NDT by coercive force

measurements.
2. Principles of NDT of welded joints by coercive force
measurements.
3. Practical testing results of the welded joints.
4. Devices for metal nondestructive testing working by means
of coercive force measurements.
5. Conclusions.

www.snr-ndt.com
 Standard welded joint as an example of a pipeline.
Measurement principles.

Coercive force We take measurements of Нс in the point

"hours" 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 of each "hour" on the weld itself and in
А х х х х х х х х х х х х both adjacent zones of the weld.
weld х х х х х х х х х х х х As the result we have the table of
В х х х х х х х х х х х х coercive force values.
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 Mappings of measurement results.
Coercive force
"hours" 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
А х х х х х х х х х х х х
weld х х х х х х х х х х х х
В х х х х х х х х х х х х
With such table by special software we get color allocation of Нс
values on geometrical scanning of the weld and adjacent zones. This
allocation clearly characterizes deflected mode of each zone of the
welded joint.

Coercive force, A/mm

Width of testing zone, mm

Conformity scale
2 *

Weld
1

Weld circuit, degree

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 Contents

1. Basic physics of metal fatigue state NDT by coercive force

measurements.
2. Principles of NDT of welded joints by coercive force
measurements.
3. Practical testing results of the welded joints.
4. Devices for metal nondestructive testing working by means
of coercive force measurements.
5. Conclusions.

www.snr-ndt.com.ua
 Coercive force, A/mm
Width of testing zone, mm

Conformity scale
The welded joint in the

Weld
beginning of its life time.

Weld circuit, degree

Coercive force, A/mm

Width of testing zone, mm

Conformity scale
The welded joint in the

Weld
middle of its life time.

The welded joint in the end

Weld circuit, degree

of its life time.

Coercive force, A/mm

Width of testing zone, mm

It must be noticed that in this

2 welded joint there are no Conformity scale
Weld
1
cracks that can be found by
any existing defectoscopy
methods.
Weld circuit, degree

At the same time the coercimetering easily monitors pre-destruction state of the
crackless steel on the real steelworks in the real practical conditions.
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 Coercimetering for quality control of heat treatment.

Before heat treatment

of the welded joint.

After heat treatment

of the welded joint.

There is an opportunity of quantitative assessment of heat treatment quality by

the degree of homogeneity reached of the own weld metal as well as compared to
its basic metal.

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 Contents

1. Basic physics of metal fatigue state NDT by coercive force

measurements.
2. Principles of NDT of welded joints by coercive force
measurements.
3. Practical testing results of the welded joints.
4. Devices for metal nondestructive testing working by means
of coercive force measurements.
5. Conclusions.

www.snr-ndt.com
 Coercimeters for manual nondestructive testing
of metal fatigue state.

All different types have weight of 2-3 kg, supplied with attached transducer.
Time of simple metering is 8 sec. It is not required the special surface
conditioning of metal as well as contact fluid. Measurements are possible
through the paint or protective coating up to 2 mm.
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Another way of coercimeteric data processing welded joint

Coercive force
"hours" 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
А х х х х х х х х х х х х
weld х х х х х х х х х х х х
В х х х х х х х х х х х х
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 Coercive force
"hours" 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
А х х х х х х х х х х х х
weld х х х х х х х х х х х х
В х х х х х х х х х х х х
Having a table of data it is possible to get two important statistical
characteristics: M (simple average) and D (average deviation) as well as
gistogram. These two values let us quickly evaluate the overall quality of
the welded joint without specifying fatigue zones.

М – simple average

D – average deviation

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 Coercive force, A/mm
Width of testing zone, mm

Such monitoring represents the starting,

Conformity scale
middle and the state in the end of the

Weld
lifetime in the following manner:

Weld circuit, degree

Coercive force, A/mm

Width of testing zone, mm

Conformity scale
Weld

Weld circuit, degree

Coercive force, A/mm
Width of testing zone, mm

As it can be seen the gistograms and

Conformity scale

2
Weld

1 statistical characteristics changes

considerably during the lifetime of welded
joint.
Weld circuit, degree

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For the practical usage of the all
effective possibilities of
coercimeteric diagnostic for welded
joints the specialized portable
system was developed.
It includes our coercimeter and our
software on the Pocket PC and lets
evaluate residual and constructional
stresses, structural non-
homogeneity, heat treatment results,
fatigue changes, development of
unsafe zones, destruction
prevention, residual life evaluation.

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 Contents

1. Basic physics of metal fatigue state NDT by coercive force

measurements.
2. Principles of NDT of welded joints by coercive force
measurements.
3. Practical testing results of the welded joints.
4. Devices for metal nondestructive testing working by means
of coercive force measurements.
5. Conclusions.

www.snr-ndt.com
 Conclusions
• Coercive force is the most efficient practical parameter of non-destructive
testing of accumulation of fatigue changes in the metal. Coercive force increases
2 3 times (depending on the metal brand) during lifetime of the fabrication.
• Our coercimeters perform testing using movable or manual sensors, without
scraping the surface, without a contact liquid, through a protective coating up to
2 mm thick.
• Practical implementation of such a testing on the basis of the instrument set
(coercimeter + pocket personal computer) makes such testing prompt, acceptable
in price and independent of skill of the mass user.
• For comparison: promptness of coercimetric control is comparable to that of
UST, but with lesser labor consumption. Promptness of obtaining the results is
similar to that for UST, but providing additional data of the kind unaccessible
for defectoscopy. Promptness of obtaining the end results by coercimeter + PPC
is not worse than for UST.
• On such a basis it becomes a practical reality while carrying out diagnostics,
also prevention of fatigue failures of welded joints and structures. That is
coercimetric testing is not just looking for defects, but prevents those too, which
is not inherent to other non-destructive control methods.
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Thanking you
E_mail:etaweld@gmail.com

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