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Organisationseinheit der BAM
- 8 Zerstörungsfreie Prüfung (5)
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Early detection of fatigue cracks and accurate measurements of the crack growth play an important role in the maintenance and repair strategies of steel structures exposed to cyclic loads during their service life. Observation of welded connections is especially of high relevance due to their higher susceptibility to fatigue damage. The aim of this contribution was to monitor fatigue crack growth in thick welded specimens during fatigue tests as holistically as possible, by implementing multiple NDT methods simultaneously in order to record the crack initiation and propagation until the final fracture. In addition to well-known methods such as strain gauges, thermography, and ultrasound, the crack luminescence method developed at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), which makes cracks on the surface particularly visible, was also used. For data acquisition, a first data fusion concept was developed and applied in order to synchronize the data of the different methods and to evaluate them to a large extent automatically. The resulting database can ultimately also be used to access, view, and analyze the experimental data for various NDT methods. During the conducted fatigue tests, the simultaneous measurements of the same cracking process enabled a comprehensive comparison of the methods, highlighting their individual strengths and limitations. More importantly, they showed how a synergetic combination of different NDT methods can be beneficial for implementation in large-scale fatigue testing but also in monitoring and inspection programs of in-service structures - such as the support structures of offshore wind turbines.
Offshore wind turbines continuously increase in size and weight and demand adequate offshore foundations concepts like monopiles, tripods, or jackets. These components are typically constructed using submerged arc welding (SAW) with high-strength thick steel plates like the S420ML. During welding, the occurrence of delayed hydrogen-assisted cracking (HAC) must be anticipated. HAC is a critical combination of the local hydrogen concentration within a susceptible microstructure under certain mechanical load, i.e., the occurring (welding) residual stresses. The welding sequence of the thick-walled plates complicates the residual stress distribution due to the necessary repeated thermal cycling, i.e., welding seam/layer deposition to fill the joint. For that purpose, SAW with two-wire-technique was used to weld a specially designed and prototype-like mock-up of a real component with a thickness of 50 mm, filled with over 20 passes and a seam length of 1000 mm. Additional welded stiffeners simulated the effect of a high restraint, to achieve critical HAC conditions. The necessity of a minimum waiting time (MWT) before the NDT can be conducted (to exclude HAC) was critically verified by the application of ultrasonic testing of the welded joint at different time-steps of the NDT of up to 48 h after the completion welding. The residual stresses were determined by a robot XRD goniometer. Tensile residual stresses up to the yield limit are found both in the weld metal and in the heat-affected zone. Numerical modeling allowed the qualitative estimation of the hydrogen diffusion in the weld. No noticeable HAC occurrence was identified and confirms the high cracking resistance of the investigated material. Finally, the applicability of the MWT concept should be critically discussed.
Hollow axle inspection can be performed without demounting the axles and without dismantling the wheels and the brake discs by using the drilling for the scan. To increase inspection reliability and inspection speed, the application of phased array systems instead of conventional probes is a good choice. For solid shaft inspection phased array setups became standard in the recent years. Nevertheless, for hollow axle inspection typically a number of conventional probes rotating through the axles drilling are applied.
The new approach uses an electronically steered rotating sound field from a phased array for the circumferential scan. This is realized by a cone shaped phased array which operates in immersion technique. That allows a significant increase in inspection speed and a reduction of the mechanical effort of the inspection system. The inspection can be carried out by a linear movement of the probe setup along the axles drilling. Applying additional focal laws allows exact inclination and focusing of the sound beam in the plane vertical to the specimen axis to concentrate the sound in the zones close to the external surface. An additional focus in the plane of incidence increases overall resolution and sensitivity.
The cone type phased array probe has been optimized to detect transversal flaws in and close to the outer surface of the hollow axle with orientation in the radial-radial plane. The prototype probe system, sound field simulations and measurement results are presented.
In order to test their suitability different non-destructive methods were performed to inspect a GFRP plate with artificial defects. These defects were manufactured by means of thin PTFE sheets inserted between two plies in three different depth. The inspection methods were microwave reflection, flash thermography and phased array ultrasonics, all applied to the same specimen. Selected results are shown for all methods demonstrating opportunities and limits of the particular inspection methods. The achieved detection limits and further application aspects are compared directly to provide a useful information for the planning of inspection tasks.
Quantification of impact damages in CFRP and GFRP structures with thermography and ultrasonics
(2018)
The extent of damage caused by impacts in fibre reinforced composites depends on the energy of the impacts, on the velocity and the shape of the impacting body, on the material and structure of the composite and on the geometry of the structure. Here, mainly the thickness of the component is essential. The non-destructive evaluation of these damages can be carried out using both ultrasound and active thermography methods. A comparison of the detection sensitivity of these methods for the different damages is carried out in this paper depending on the fibre composite material used (CFRP and GFRP), the thickness of the material and the impact energy. The NDT methods used after the damage are supplemented by thermographic measurements with high temporal resolution, which were already recorded during the impact.
Non-destructive testing (NDT) helps to find material defects without having an influence on the material itself. It is applied as a method of quality control, for online structural health monitoring, and for inspection of safety related components. Due to the ability of automation and a simple test setup ultrasonic testing is one major NDT technique next to several existing options. Whereas contact technique allows the use of higher frequencies of some MHz and phased array focusing, air-coupled ultrasonic testing (ACUT) shows different advantages. Most significant for ACUT is the absence of any coupling fluid and an economical test procedure respective time and costs. Both contact technique and ACUT have been improved and enhanced during the past years. One important enhancement is the development of airborne transducers based on ferroelectrets, like charged cellular polypropylene (cpp), which makes the application of any matching layers being mandatory in conventional piezoelectric transducers unnecessary. In this contribution we show ultrasonic inspection results of specimens made of carbon- and glass-fibre-reinforced plastic. These specimens include defects represented by drill holes and artificial delaminations of various size and depth. We compare inspection results achieved by using contact technique to those achieved by ACUT. For ACUT, conventional piezoelectric transducers and transducers based on cpp were used, both focused as well as non-focused types. Contact inspections were performed with a multi-channel matrix array probe. Once the inspection data is recorded it can be analysed in order to detect and evaluate defects in the specimen. We present different analysing strategies and compare these regarding detection rate and sizing of defects.
Applications of fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composites in modern industries are increasing due to their considerable advantages such as light weight and excellent mechanical properties. Accordingly, importance of operational safety of modern structures made of advanced composites by ensuring the material quality has led to increasing demands for development of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) systems. In the context of a European project entitled “Validated Inspection Techniques for Composites in Energy Applications” (VITCEA), the aim is to develop and validate traceable procedures for novel NDE techniques with contrasting damage detection capabilities in energy related applications such as wind and marine turbine blades, nacelles, oil and gas flexible risers. Accordingly, VITCEA focuses on optimization of ultrasonic tests (UTs) for quantitative defect detection and quality characterization of FRP structures. In this context, the present study describes the ultrasound field in heterogeneous composite materials. The theoretical predictions are compared with simulation results obtained from CIVA a software package dedicated to NDT simulations based on the asymptotic ray theory.
The inspection of the sealing weld is an important phase for the evaluation of the acceptability of final disposal canister, but the weld is only a part of the 3D shielding of copper shell. The main tasks for reliable NDT evaluation requires an extensive evaluation of the parameters which contains typical inspection related items like repeatability, S/N ratio, POD, setting up the equipment for inspection, and all practices for inspections. The other parameters are material parameters, their variation must be taken into account in the evaluation of NDT reliability. Further parameters include human factors, i. e. human inspectors and their interaction with technical systems; their effects were studied on an example of the evaluation of eddy current data. Final parameters are related to evaluation of detected defects, which means sizing and base for acceptance and this can be done in different ways. Some examples are given and results are compared with different methods for instance between radiographic testing and ultrasonic testing by raw data analysis and PA-SAFT results. Also, preliminary curves for the evaluation of metallographic results of 55 defects will be shown by EB weld measurements. Some practical items concerning copper inspections will be also discussed related to acceptability.
Defect sizing is required for a quantitative assessment of the quality and reliability of safety relevant components and materials using ultrasonic non-destructive testing. The SAFT (Synthetic Aperture Focussing Technique) and the TOFD technique (Time Of Flight Diffraction) are such promising sizing candidates, extracting more information from the raw ultrasound echo data and the corresponding crack tip response. In this work the phased array technique is used to inspect a clad mock-up model of a pressure vessel section. The full scale model contains artificial test reflectors which are located in the weld and in the cladding region as well. The defects—representing typical flaws at a very early stage—are analysed with different frequencies, beam angles and directions of incidence.
For the reconstruction of reflector indications a SAFT algorithm is applied to the phased array measurement results. Additionally the reflectors are analysed by means of the TOFD technique, using different beam angles at the same time. Both analysis methods are performed using different directions of incidence considering the complex cladding structure underneath the inner surface of the mock-up model. A direct comparison of the SAFT and TOFD techniques shows that, besides the clarity of the results, the detection and sizing capabilities of SAFT are far better.
NDT is a multidisciplinary research area fusing the disciplines of natural Science and engineering. Particularly in the early development stages of a new testing method, feasibility investigations focus on the fundamental physical interaction between the sensing mechanism and specimen. Research activities during subsequent phases of modular prototype development, technical System Integration and Validation primarily attempt to solve the practical engineering and real-life aspects of a testing method. We show several examples of new methods in different stages of development and highlight the potential for further industrial use. The first section deals with Steel surfaces of lightweight components which are
inspected with pm-sized magneto resistive sensor arrays. This quantitative magnetic stray field approach combines high spatial resolution and very high sensitivity, enabling the user to detect even very small micro-defects. Tuming to CFRP components we also show new developments in airbome ultrasonic testing. Here we use ferroelectret foils to reduce the acoustical mismatch between transducer and air, which enhances the signal-to-noise ratio. A further example illuminates the use of metallic nano layers as a broadband thermo acoustical emitter. Their use provides both high sound pressures and very broadband Signal characteristics. When it comes to CFRP components and other anisotropic and highly Scattering materials, ultrasonic matrix arrays in conjunction with many angles of incidences per transducer position can help to enhance the statistics of a testing problem. In the field of conventional water-coupled UT testing we also show the use of matrix array transducers
providing a tomographic-like 3D-image of impact damage in CFRP samples.