November 15, 2006, Kuwait
TCR in Kuwait and TCR Arabia in Saudi Arabia have introduced an innovative method to perform Automated Ultrasonic Testing on weld joints based on the Time of Flight Diffraction (TOFD) technique.
Time of Flight Diffraction inspection technique allows the NDT team to perform amplitude-independent accurate flaw sizing on a wide coverage area with extremely fast scanning. TOFD is very sensitive to detecting all kinds of defects, irrespective of its orientation.
ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Standard Section VIII Code Case 2235-9 states that is acceptable to use the TOFD for Ultrasonic examination in accordance with ASME Section V, Article 4. This allows TOFD to be used on all Section VIII pressure vessels.
British Standards Institute's welding standards policy committee has created the BS 7706 as a guide for the calibration and setting-up of the Ultrasonic Time of Flight diffraction (TOFD) technique for defect detection, location and sizing of flaws. Another well documented guide is the Pr EN 583-6.
Amit, Middle East Manager of TCR in Kuwait says, "As a long term QA service provider for our clients, we aim to store digital information of each weld in our central data repository. Inspection of the same weld on subsequent years will allow our team to visually compare and record any increase in size of the defect. This is valuable from a maintenance perspective."
Mr. Bafna further states, "Automated Ultrasonic Testing (UT) and Time of Flight Diffraction (TOFD) technique allows our team to use modern tools as a strong replacement for conventional ultrasonic and radiography. Speed and accuracy of testing is of paramount importance in our NDT services business model and allows our customers to significantly reduce the time allotted for inspection activities."
The company has acquired the state-of-the-art OmniScan MX test unit with a number of probes of different angles, EPOCH LT Ultrasonic Flaw Detector and the TomoView software from Olympus NDT, Canada. Senior NDT testing team members from TCR Kuwait and TCR Engineering Services, India visited Québec, Canada to undergo intensive hands-on training on practical usage of TOFD.
The company has also collaborated with a number of international partners including world renowned NDT Level III experts in USA and Canada to supervise on the test procedure and scan plans.
TCR Kuwait is a division of
TCR Engineering Services, India. For more information on TCR ATSCO in Kuwait, please visit
www.tcr-atsco.com. For information on TCR Arabia, visit
www.tcr-arabia.com.
