Technical Personnel Services
Non-Destructive Testing from Gulf Engineering
Our Non-Destructive Examination methods help you confirm mechanical integrity, detect flaws and identify materials without sacrificing equipment or parts and sometimes without disassembling the equipment.
The simplest inspection method is often a boroscope where video or still images are obtained from the distant end of a small tube inserted into piping, tubes or other openings inside equipment. This method of remote visual inspection provides a permanent record as digital images are easy to label, store and archive.
Radiography can be performed using X-ray or gamma sources such as Cobalt 60 or Iridium 192. The images can be captured by standard film technology or digitally. Film must be developed with the use of chemical developers and fixers. The sometimes large films must then be physically stored for archival purposes. Digital radiography overcomes some of these problems since no processing chemicals are purchased or disposed of. Storage, manipulation, simultaneous viewing and enhancement by software are facilitated by the digital format. These advantages are so great for some users that they convert a large film archive to digital format for future ease of use. Gulf Engineering provides film to digital conversion with a number of options for barcoding and records management.
Ultrasonic Testing is used to determine metal thickness, detect flaws and determine weld integrity. High frequency sound is highly directional and the resulting reflected or transmitted waves tell much about the equipment and materials. The geometry of the probe to the test piece determines whether the operation is termed an A, B or C scan. Gulf Engineering does all these and several other variations. Ultrasonic testing equipment can be put on a crawler that largely automates the inspection of long runs of tubing or pipe. IRIS (Internal Rotary Inspection System) is a refinement in probe handling and data presentation allowing a continuous indication of tubing ID and OD that makes the results easy to understand. IRIS is often used to corroborate defects found by other methods. A basic erosion/corrosion survey will report back the results of ultrasonic testing on the piping of an entire unit or plant.
Magnetic Particle Testing can be performed only on ferromagnetic materials. Cracks and interior discontinuities can be detected by a leakage field attracting colored or fluorescent particles to the site or the crack or flaw.
Eddy Current Testing is a non-contact technique that uses a wire coil inside a tube. Alternating current sent through the coil causes a magnetic field which induces an eddy current in any conductive material near the coil. A symmetrical, uniform pipe or tube generates one type of signal, but flaws, pitting, changes in thickness and other discontinuities cause a change in that pattern. This technique is useful for crack detection, material thickness measurements, coating thickness measurements, material identification, heat damage detection, and heat treatment monitoring. A related method, called Remote Field Eddy Current Testing, works on ferromagnetic tubes and uses separate transmitter and sensor coils to generate the same kind of signals to detect flaws. These methods are generally used on heat exchanger tubing with relatively thin walls such as condensers, evaporators and chillers but sometimes on other equipment surfaces.
Liquid Penetrant Testing applies a penetrating liquid to the equipment surface so that it enters the discontinuity or crack. After removing the excess penetrant from the surface, the penetrant in the crack or pits can be observed coming back out. Visual enhancements such as potent dyes or fluorescence help detect the dye escaping from cracks as small as 150 nanometers. The material tested simply needs to be non-porous, clean and not too rough.
Hardness Testing – While hardness is not as precisely defined as other material properties, it certainly is important and useful to know how resistant a material is to deformation, scratching, cutting, abrasion, bending, etc. The results are highly dependent on the testing method and are therefore a direct result of a defined testing procedure. Gulf Engineering provides most major methods.
Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) Testing is used for tubes and flat surfaces. The magnetic flux lines around a magnet change in the presence of a conducting material, so that most lines are intercepted and rerouted through the metal. Holes or thin regions in the metal lead to features or discontinuities in the flux line patterns which are easy to detect with sensors.
Ferrite Testing is used to determine the tendency of steels to crack, break or fail at weld sites using standard metallurgical principles.
Positive Material Identification (PMI) by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) instrumentation provides elemental identification and quantitative determination regardless of form, size or shape. As proper materials of construction and their documentation is such an important part of Process Safety Management, don't take chances.
Gulf Engineering can provide API inspectors to help your company or project inspect new construction, support your mechanical integrity or vendor surveillance programs or assist with plant turnaround inspections.
API 510 Vessel Inspection
API 570 Pipe Inspection
API 653 Storage Tank Inspection
API 936 Refractory Inspection
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