On-stream weld integrity assessments with high-temperature ultrasonic TOFD
Tracks
NDT Methods
| Thursday, October 24, 2024 |
| 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM |
| 213/214 - Campfire & Deep Dive |
Details
Ultrasonic time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) is a popular method widely used in petrochemical, energy and other industries for the in-service detection and characterisation of welds defects on pressure equipment such as root corrosion, porosity, inclusions, and cracks. Presented here is an evaluation of the practical application of high-temperature TOFD transducers, with integrated wedges, mounted on to a modified scanner for high-temperature encoding such that the whole system is suitable for weld inspections at continuous elevated temperatures up to 670 °F. This paper establishes the performance and detection characteristics of weld root corrosion and common defects/ damage mechanisms in carbon steel piping circuit welds inspected at >400 °F without shutdown or isolation of the asset under test, and presents requirements for compensation due to the inherent changes in steel velocity and attenuation with increasing temperature. Finally a case study is presented, of in-process weld repair of an ammonia converter using TOFD at elevated temperatures to verify the weld integrity.
Speaker
Dr Tim Stevenson
CEO
Ionix Advanced Technologies
On-stream weld integrity assessments with high-temperature ultrasonic TOFD
Presentation Description
Ultrasonic time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) is a popular method widely used in petrochemical, energy and other industries for the in-service detection and characterisation of welds defects on pressure equipment such as root corrosion, porosity, inclusions, and cracks. Presented here is an evaluation of the practical application of high-temperature TOFD transducers, with integrated wedges, mounted on to a modified scanner for high-temperature encoding such that the whole system is suitable for weld inspections at continuous elevated temperatures up to 670 °F. This paper establishes the performance and detection characteristics of weld root corrosion and common defects/ damage mechanisms in carbon steel piping circuit welds inspected at >400 °F without shutdown or isolation of the asset under test, and presents requirements for compensation due to the inherent changes in steel velocity and attenuation with increasing temperature. Finally a case study is presented, of in-process weld repair of an ammonia converter using TOFD at elevated temperatures to verify the weld integrity.
Biography
Tim holds a Ph.D in Materials Science, is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining, and site on the British Institute of NDT technical committee for condition monitoring.
He was recently awarded the COMADIT prize for his contribution to developing corrosion monitoring, and is founder and CEO of Ionix Advanced Technologies.
