NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING Third Edition

HANDBOOK

Volume 9

Visual Testing

Editor
Patrick O. Moore

Technical Editors
Michael W. Allgaier
Robert E. Cameron

FOU
NDED
1941 American Society for Nondestructive Testing
Copyright © 2010
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not necessarily reflect the opinion of ASNT. Products or services that are advertised or mentioned do not carry the
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Nondestructive Evaluation and RNDE are registered trademarks of The American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Inc.
ASNT exists to create a safer world by promoting the profession and technologies of nondestructive testing.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Visual testing / editor, Patrick O. Moore -- 3rd ed.
p. cm. -- (Nondestructive testing handbook ; v. 9)
Rev. ed. of: Visual and optical testing, 1993
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57117-186-3 (alk. paper)
1. Nondestructive Testing. 2. Engineering inspection. 3. Optical
measurements. I. Moore, Patrick O., II. American Society for Nondestructive
Testing. III. Visual and optical testing.

TA417.2.V57 2010
620.1'127--dc22
2010018505

Errata
Errata if available for this printing may be obtained from ASNT’s Web site, <www.asnt.org>.

first printing 05/10

Published by the American Society for Nondestructive Testing

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
President’s Foreword

ASNT exists to create a safer world by

promoting the profession and
technologies of nondestructive testing.
The dedicated efforts of the Technical
and Education Council continue to
advance NDT technology through their
tireless efforts in creating new NDT
education and resource materials. Their
important achievements are a testimonial
to the efforts of these dedicated
volunteers.
One of the best ways to promote NDT
technology is to update and maintain our
handbooks as science and technology
advances. The NDT Handbook series is one
of ASNT’s premier products. It is
recognized both nationally and
internationally as a valuable study and
reference resource for NDT.
Visual Testing, Volume 9 of the third
edition, is the result of the dedicated
efforts of volunteers and ASNT staff to
update the handbook and align with
today’s technological advancements.
Vision is an integral part of everyday
life. It is not surprising that visual testing
is usually the initial examination
performed on components, parts and
structures.
As the demand for inspectors continues
to increase, there will be a significant
demand to keep materials current and
develop new NDT technology handbooks.
As technology continues to advance,
ASNT will continue to keep its library of
resources current and useful as an
essential resource to the NDT community.
The opportunities for the NDT
professional are endless. Involvement on
the Technical and Education Committee
is an excellent way to give back to this
proud profession. I encourage each ASNT
member to become involved and give
back to the profession of NDT. I guarantee
that you will get more than you give.

Joel W. Whitaker
ASNT President, 2009-2010

Visual Testing iii

Foreword
Aims of a Handbook
The volume you are holding in your hand
is the ninth in the third edition of the
Nondestructive Testing Handbook. In the
beginning of each volume, ASNT has
stated the purposes and nature of the
NDT Handbook series.
Handbooks exist in many disciplines of
science and technology, and certain
features set them apart from other
reference works. A handbook should
ideally provide the basic knowledge
necessary for an understanding of the
technology, including both scientific
principles and means of application. The
third edition of the NDT Handbook
provides this knowledge through method
specific volumes.
The typical reader may be assumed to
have completed a few years of college
toward a degree in engineering or science
and has the background of an elementary
physics or mechanics course. Additionally,
this volume allows for computer based
media that enhance all levels of education
and training.
Standards, specifications,
recommended practices and inspection
procedures are discussed for instructional
purposes, but at a level of generalization
that is illustrative rather than
comprehensive. Standards writing bodies
iv Visual Testing
take great pains to ensure that their
documents are definitive in wording and
technical accuracy. People writing
contracts or procedures should consult
the actual standards when appropriate.
Those who design qualifying
examinations or study material for them
draw on ASNT handbooks as a quick and
convenient way of approximating the
body of knowledge. Committees and
individuals who write or anticipate
questions are selective in what they draw
from any source. The parts of a handbook
that give scientific background, for
instance, may have little bearing on a
practical examination except to provide
the physical foundation to assist handling
of more challenging tasks. Other parts of
a handbook are specific to a certain
industry. This handbook provides a
collection of perspectives on its subject to
broaden its value and convenience to the
nondestructive testing community.
The present volume is a worthy
addition to the third edition. The editors,
technical editors, ASNT staff, many
contributors and reviewers worked
together to bring the project to
completion. For their scholarship and
dedication, I thank them all.
Richard H. Bossi
Handbook Development Director
Preface
The first visual testing report is found
written in the book of Genesis, “He saw
that it was good.”
Visual testing is the test that precedes
every other test. For years, a certification
in magnetic particle testing or liquid
penetrant testing would suffice to be the
equivalent of a visual testing
qualification.
The inspector had to “look” at the
object, part, component or system before
performing any other nondestructive
testing (NDT) to “see” if the surface was
suitable for further testing.
Its primary role as first test makes it the
most important of all the methods of
nondestructive testing. For years, how to
look at something defined visual testing.
What the inspector is looking at entails a
broad spectrum of applications. This is
probably why visual testing was
formalized so late in industry — codified
by the nuclear industry, in the 1980s, and
appearing last in the sequence of NDT
Handbook volumes, in 1993.
Its main limitation is that the test
surface must be accessible. Direct visual
testing has always addressed direct line of
sight from the eyeball to the test surface.
With the help of a candle and a mirror,
otherwise inaccessible surfaces became
accessible. As the light source progressed
from a candle to a light bulb, to a fiber
optic cable, to an illumination bundle,
the limiting factor was the lens optic
system and eventually the fiber optic
system.
The main content difference of this
edition of the visual volume of the NDT
Handbook is the significant addition of the
topic of indirect (or remote) visual testing.
Coupling the recent advances in remote
visual test techniques with modern image
recording capabilities makes the recording
and transferring of visual images a major
advance in recording, transferring and
retaining visual data of a test object. This
technology is a major advantage over
other NDT methods.
Visual testing allows direct
interpretation of test results without
encoding, decoding, extrapolating and
evaluating data from other NDT methods.
To assess the condition of the test object,
what the inspectors see is what they get.
Visual is the most directly useful test
method to assess the condition of an
object.
Michael W. Allgaier
Robert E. Cameron
Technical Editors
Visual Testing v
Editor’s Preface
Early in 1986, Robert McMaster sat up in
his hospital bed and handed me a piece of
paper from a technical committee
member. On the paper was scratched an
outline for the book you are now reading.
This book on visual testing (VT) began
with Robert McMaster. McMaster was
ASNT’s president from 1952 to 1953. He
compiled and in 1959 published the first
edition of the NDT Handbook. That
edition was a milestone in the history of
nondestructive testing (NDT).
McMaster is revered in ASNT because
of two major visions that he imparted.
First, he believed that NDT had a mission,
an important role among applied sciences
such as engineering: NDT’s purpose was to
improve the quality of products and
services, to preserve not just the quality of
life but to preserve life itself through
public safety. He often compared
nondestructive inspectors to physicians,
saving lives. Without NDT, airplanes crash
and buildings fall and boilers explode.
Second, McMaster wanted to ground
NDT solidly as a material science. He had
studied under Enrico Fermi and Robert
Millikan at CalTech. McMaster believed in
the nobility of science, that it improved
our lives through understanding natural
laws and applying that understanding.
His first edition of the NDT Handbook
was monumental, 54 sections in two
volumes. There were fifteen sections for
radiographic testing and two for visual
testing. That the visual method was
represented at all is remarkable, and
reflects McMaster’s scientific bent and the
conviction that NDT should be
represented in every band in the
electromagnetic spectrum, even the visible
radiation we call light. But on that winter
afternoon in 1986, an exasperated
McMaster pointed to the brief outline:
“It’s just a list of different kinds of
borescopes! Just borescopes!”
The challenge for the writer of that
outline, as for McMaster in 1959 and for
others since, is precisely how the method
is to be defined. For some, it was defined
by its instruments, mainly the industrial
endoscopes called borescopes. Others
believed, wrongly, that the term visual
denoted viewing unmediated by lenses
and that another word, optical, was
needed to include instruments such as
borescopes. For McMaster, however, as for
every volume of the third edition of the
NDT Handbook, the word visual carved out
a niche in the electromagnetic spectrum
somewhere between infrared and X-rays
(both of which, by the way, are also
mediated through optics). Still, as late as
the 1980s, some people assumed that the
term visual testing meant only “vision
acuity examination.”
vi Visual Testing
One of the intriguing things about VT
is that very few publications have been
dedicated to it as nondestructive testing,
distinct from fields such as astronomy or
medical endoscopy. By 1990, there were
two books on VT, one on borescopes and
one mainly on direct viewing.
The next step was taken by Michael
Allgaier and ASNT’s VT Committee.
Allgaier collected available material, and
in 1993 ASNT published it as Volume 8 in
the second edition of the NDT Handbook.
That volume defined the method.
Henceforth, VT was to include both direct
and indirect techniques. It would be
scientifically grounded in the physics of
light. Its study would include basic
optometry, since the eye is the primary
sensor. VT’s representation in standards
for industries such as energy and
petroleum would be duly noted.
Before that book, the method would
usually go unnoticed: inspectors would
not even realize that their visual
inspection was actually nondestructive
testing. After that book, the foundation
was laid for an ASNT method — with
trainers, qualifying examinations and a
literature for study.
The present volume builds on the
success of that 1993 volume. Information
has been added on digital capabilities that
inspectors use routinely. The coverage of
indirect techniques (sometimes called
remote inspection) has been updated to
reflect current technology for cameras and
measurement. The discussions of
optometry and physics are updated. The
chapter on metals is completely revised
with an eye for practicality. The material
on direct techniques is presented in one
chapter. References are updated
throughout. The entire book has been
revised to be clearly organized and
functionally complete.
McMaster’s stay in the hospital in the
winter of 1986 was one of several that
would end with his death in July. I like to
think that, if he had lived to see it, he
would have celebrated this book and VT’s
place as an NDT method.
Dozens of contributors and reviewers
freely shared their expertise; in particular
Technical Editors Michael Allgaier and
Robert Cameron provided leadership and
encouragement. On ASNT staff, Senior
Manager of Publications Timothy Jones
provided essential administrative support.
My colleague, Technical Publications
Supervisor Hollis Humphries, proofed the
entire book and supervised all its graphics.
A hearty thanks to them all.
Patrick Moore
NDT Handbook Editor
Acknowledgments
All contributors are also reviewers but are
listed once, as contributors.
Handbook Development
Committee
Richard H. Bossi, Boeing Aerospace
Michael W. Allgaier, Mistras
David R. Bajula, Acuren Inspection
Albert S. Birks, Naval Surface Warfare
Center
Lisa Brasche, Iowa State University
James E. Cox, Zetec, Incorporated
David L. Culbertson, El Paso Corporation
James L. Doyle, Jr., NorthWest Research
Associates
Nat Y. Faransso, KBR
Gerard K. Hacker, Teledyne Brown
Engineering
Harb S. Hayre, Ceie Specs
Eric v.K. Hill, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University
James W. Houf, American Society for
Nondestructive Testing
Frank A. Iddings
Morteza K. Jafari, Fugro South
Timothy E. Jones, American Society for
Nondestructive Testing
John K. Keve, DynCorp Tri-Cities Services
Doron Kishoni, Business Solutions USA,
Canada
Xavier P.V. Maldague, University Laval
George A. Matzkanin, Texas Research
Institute
Ronnie K. Miller, Mistras
Scott D. Miller
Mani Mina, Technology Resource Group
David G. Moore, Sandia National
Laboratories
Patrick O. Moore, American Society for
Nondestructive Testing
Stanislav I. Rokhlin, Ohio State University
Frank J. Sattler
Fred Seppi, Williams International
Kermit A. Skeie
Roderic K. Stanley, NDE Information
Consultants
Stuart A. Tison, Millipore Corporation
Noel A. Tracy, Universal Technology
Corporation
Satish S. Udpa, Michigan State University
Mark F.A. Warchol, Alcoa
Glenn A. Washer, University of Missouri
— Columbia
George C. Wheeler
Gary L. Workman, University of Alabama,
Huntsville
Contributors
Michael W. Allgaier, Mistras
David R. Atkins, Packer Engineering
David R. Bajula, Acuren Inspection
Bruce L. Bates
Thomas D. Britton, General Electric
Sensing and Inspection Technologies
Brian P. Buske, General Electric Sensing
and Inspection Technologies
Donald R. Christina, Boeing Company
John C. Duke, Jr., Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University
Mohamed El-Gomati, University of York,
United Kingdom
Nat Y. Faransso, KBR
Gregory W. Good, Ohio State University,
College of Optometry
Doron Kishoni, Business Solutions USA,
Canada
Douglas G. Krauss, Huddleston Technical
Services, Redstone Arsenal
William J. Lang, Lenox Instrument
Company
Trevor Liddell, General Electric Sensing
and Inspection Technologies
Zheng Liu, Research Officer, National
Research Council Canada
Joseph L. Mackin, Team Industrial Services
Stephen L. Meiley, Champion
International
Richard T. Nademus, Exelon Corporation
Yoshihiro Ohno, National Institute of
Standards and Technology
Donald Parrish, Southern Company
Services
David A. Pasquazzi, David Pasquazzi and
Associates
Stanislav I. Rokhlin, Ohio State University
Donald J. Roth, National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, Glenn Research
Center
Gregory C. Sayler, MD Helicopters
Roderic K. Stanley, NDE Information
Consultants
Marvin W. Trimm, Savannah River
National Laboratory
Hiroyuki Ukida, University of Tokushima,
Japan
Michael A. Urzendowski, Valero Energy
Robert W. Warke, LeTourneau University
Reviewers
Steven E. Anderson, Canam Steel
Jerry D. Beasley, Omaha Public Power
Kenneth Becker, Sigma Transducers
James J. Bogner, GPR Testing and
Inspection
Visual Testing vii
 Richard H. Bossi, Boeing Research and
Technology
Lisa Brasche, Iowa State University
Robert H. Bushnell
James R. Cahill, General Electric Sensing
and Inspection Technologies
Robert E. Cameron
Eugene J. Chemma, Arcelor Mittal Steel
David Clark, LightDancer Interactive
Technologies
Christopher I. Collins, Olympus Industrial
Systems Europa
Jackson R. Crissey, Jr., Plant Performance
Services
Claude D. Davis, Unified Testing Services
Edward R. Generazio, NASA Langley
Research Center
Lawrence O. Goldberg, Seatest
Jack K. Harper, Babcock and Wilcox, Oak
Ridge
James W. Houf, American Society for
Nondestructive Testing
Charles P. Longo, American Society for
Nondestructive Testing
viii Visual Testing
Walter R. Matulewicz, Tinker Air Force
Base
Charles H. Mazel, BlueLine NDT
Eugene A. Mechtly, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
John W. Miller
Scott D. Miller
Van B. Nakagawara, Federal Aviation
Authority, Civil Aerospace Medical
Institute
David K. Park, Olympus Industrial
America
Bruce A. Pellegrino, General Electric
Sensing and Inspection Technologies,
Everest RVI
William C. Plumstead, Sr., PQT Services
Frank J. Sattler
David Sentelle, American Society for
Nondestructive Testing
Robert E. Stevens, United Airlines
Mark F.A. Warchol, Alcoa
Stanley L. Weatherly, Boeing Company
 C O N T E N T S

Chapter 1. Introduction to Chapter 7. Machine Vision for Visual

Visual Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Part 1. Nondestructive Testing . . . . . 2 Part 1. System Architecture of
Part 2. Management of Visual Machine Vision
Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Part 3. History of Visual Part 2. Algorithms and
Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Part 4. Measurement Units for References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Visual Testing . . . . . . . . . 34
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Chapter 8. Visual Testing of
Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Chapter 2. Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Part 1. Metal Processing . . . . . . . . 180
Part 1. Physics of Light . . . . . . . . . 42 Part 2. Visual Testing of Cast
Part 2. Refraction and Color . . . . . 45 Ingots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Part 3. Photometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Part 3. Visual Testing of Forgings
and Rolled Metal . . . . . . 185
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Part 4. Visual Testing of
Welds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Chapter 3. Vision Acuity for Part 5. Discontinuities from
Nondestructive Testing . . . . . . . 61 Processes Other than
Part 1. Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Welding . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Part 2. Vision Acuity . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Part 6. Service Induced
Part 3. Vision Testing . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Discontinuities . . . . . . . . 200
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Chapter 4. Visual Test Imaging . . . . . . . 83 Chapter 9. Chemical and Petroleum

Part 1. Photography in Visual Applications of Visual
Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Part 2. Digital Processing and Part 1. Chemical and Petroleum
Archiving for Visual Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Part 2. Visual Acceptance Criteria
Part 3. Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 for Welds . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Part 3. Petroleum Tubular
Specifications . . . . . . . . . 220
Part 4. Visual Testing of Pipe
Chapter 5. Direct Visual Testing . . . . . 111
Threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Part 1. Circumstances of References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Part 2. Illumination . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 10. Electric Power
Part 3. Magnification . . . . . . . . . . 121
Applications of Visual
Part 4. Surface Characteristics . . . 127
Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Part 5. Dimensional
Measurement . . . . . . . . . 130 Part 1. Visual Testing of
Welds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Part 2. Visual Testing of Various
Components . . . . . . . . . . 250
Chapter 6. Indirect Visual Testing . . . 135 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Part 1. Introduction to Indirect
Visual Testing . . . . . . . . . 136
Part 2. Borescopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Part 3. Camera Based
Measurement . . . . . . . . . 148
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Visual Testing ix
 Chapter 11. Aerospace Applications
of Visual Testing . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part 1. Visual Testing of Aircraft
Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part 2. Visual Testing of Jet
Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part 3. Visual Testing of
Composite Materials . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 13. Visual Testing
265 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
266 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
274
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
278
283 Figure Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Chapter 12. Techniques Allied to

Visual Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Part 1. Indications Not from
Visual Testing . . . . . . . . . 286
Part 2. Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Part 3. Etching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

x Visual Testing