Corrosion ultrasonic inspection

Corrosion may be monitored by measuring changes in thickness with time using ultrasonic thickness gages. An automated ultrasonic inspection system has been devised and used in monitoring corrosion in nuclear waste containers and typical variations in ultrasonic indications in corroded and uncorroded areas have been recorded successfully. Major types of equipment inspection by ultrasonic technique has been done in mill components, power equipment, jet engine parts, aircraft components, railway materials, automotive components and other machinery components. 

For detection of more localized corrosion, such as crevice corrosion or SCC, other ultrasonic inspection techniques may be useful. Baseline data generated at the time of installation will also be helpful in evaluating results. One benefit derived from this type of inspection technique is that it can often be conducted with little or no interference with production. Periodic planned visual inspection of equipment utilized under conditions likely to cause stress cracking is also an effective technique, especially when combined with non-destructive inspection techniques such as dye penetrant inspection. It may be necessary to remove coatings or insulation from the equipment surface to facilitate inspection. 

On-line monitoring, inspection and maintenance development of innovative techniques for monitoring of corrosion conditions and material damage and of improved ultrasonic inspection techniques ... 

Generating bank tubes have experienced corrosion adjacent to the mud drum in some recovery boilers. Thompson et al. [263] reported field and laboratory results. First, an in situ conductivity probe was used to determine when corrosive salts formed in the boiler at the mud drum/tube area. Then, erosion testing in the laboratory indicated that removal rates were insufficient to account for the tube wastage. Guzi [264] described an automated ultrasonic inspection procedin for use during boiler outages to detect near mud drum corrosion of generating tubes. 

Designing in a system a corrosion allowance based on the possible loss of a material thickness is one of the simplest methods for dealing with uniform attack. Ultrasonic inspection has been used for decades to measure the thickness of solid objects. A piezoelectric crystal serves as a transducer to oscillate at high frequencies, coupled directly or indirectly to one surface of the object whose thickness is to be measured. The time the wave of known velocity takes to travel through the material is used to determine its thickness. Since the late 1970s,... 

Projection radiography is widely used for pipe inspection and corrosion monitoring. Film digitisation allows a direct access to the local density variations by computer software. Following to a calibration step an interactive estimation of local wall thickness change based on the obtained density variation is possible. The theoretical model is discussed, the limitations of the application range are shown and examples of the practical use are given. The accuracy of this method is compared to results from wall thickness measurements with ultrasonic devices. 

Defects such as hot tears or laps, quench cracks, localized overheating during stress rehef, and corrosion may occur during the tubemaking process (154). Magnetic particle, ultrasonic, and visual inspection techniques are used to ensure that relatively few tubes enter service with significant defects. 

Corrosion-fatigue cracks can be detected by nondestructive testing techniques such as magnetic particle inspection, radiography, ultrasonics, and dye penetrant. Corrosion-fatigue cracks may occur in numerous tubes simultaneously. Nondestructive testing of tubes at locations similar to those in which cracks are observed can be useftil. 

Some applications of ultrasonics are inspection for flaws in forgings, flat-rolled products such as strips, sheets and plates, castings, extrusion billets, rolling blooms or slabs, bar stock, pipes, welded joints, bonded joints, monitoring cracks, measurement of thickness, measurement of fluid levels, microstructural features and monitoring corrosion. 

In areas where general corrosion is the expected form, a simple ultrasonic thickness gage can be utilized to determine the extent of corrosion, based on baseline readings made at installation or previous inspections. The entire unit need not be examined. Attention can be focused on those areas most likely to corrode, such as liquid levels, mixing zones, or areas of high turbulence. Corrosion probes, which can be placed in process equipment or pipelines, can monitor corrosion conditions by measuring an actual corrosion current, or other process parameters known to be related to general corrosion rates. These data can be constantly monitored and recorded to predict equipment wear, or as an alert to upset conditions. 

Other workers have published improved procedures for inspecting both reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete structures with regard to determination of the embedded steel components [110]. A prototype ultrasonic procedure was developed to determine the condition of prestressed and pretensioned tendons in concrete. The application of electrochemical surface-mounted systems for estimating the rate of corrosion of reinforcing steel and other embedded steel components in large concrete structures was described using this technique. 

In general, the most widely used field technologies for inspection are ultrasonic thickness measurement, while for online methods they are corrosion test specimens, electrical resistance, and linear polarization probes. Both of the inspection methods and the first two online methods measure metal loss. The last method measures corrosion rate, but only in a sufficiendy conductive process environment, normally water. 

Measurement sensitivity divides the metal loss methods. Ultrasonics and radiography are usually considered as inspection methods. Typically, ultrasonics has a measurement resolution of around 50 pm (0.002 in.), and radiography 250 p,m (0.010 in.). Consequently, these types of measurements are typically made annually. Corrosion test specimens (coupons) assess metal loss typically over a one to three month interval. Electrical resistance probes, as an automatic coupon, assess metal loss typically over a few hours to a few weeks. 

Ultrasonic and radiographic inspection techniques are used for long-term evaluations because of their lower sensitivity. The advantages of these techniques are that they are nonintrusive and do not normally require special mounting equipment or access to the process. The common intrusive techniques of corrosion test specimens, electrical resistance, and linear polarization probes require exposure to the process. 

Direct assessment gives a possibility for direct mechanical or ultrasonic measurement of pit depth and wall thickness change due to the corrosion. X-ray radiography is used to inspect welds immediately after they are made. This technique can also show stress corrosion cracks and corrosion pits in the weld area, where the coating has failed to seal the metal structure. A promising method of mapping corrosion on the metal surface is the use of laser scanning equipment. 

Interior corrosion is best evaluated by a hydrostatic test combined with careful visual inspection. Ultrasonic thickness-measuring and flaw-detection devices may be used to evaluate specific conditions. Corrosion limits for both low and high pressure steel cylinders were dis-... 

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