Ultrasonic Immersion Testing: Where it is used, and why

Recently, Philips announced that it is reeling under losses after a charge that its faulty medical device put users with sleep apnea at risk of inhaling toxic foam! The company says it has resulted in a loss of 1.3 billion euros or over Rs 10,000 crore.

Meanwhile, confronted with a power crisis, the French government has urged the country’s national utility EDF to restart the country’s 32 inactive nuclear reactors, which were taken offline owing to corrosion issues.

So, that’s how much harm a little defect or corrosion can do. It can result in millions of dollars in losses as well as affect the lives of millions adversely. This is why ultrasonic immersion testing plays an important part in the manufacturing and maintenance of products and equipment.

What is ultrasonic immersion testing?

Ultrasonic testing uses electronic transducers to transmit high-frequency sound waves through the material to detect defects, cracks, or corrosion in materials. Ultrasonic immersion testing on the other hand is a more advanced form of ultrasonic testing. Here, the transducer is placed in the water, above the test object, and sound is projected.

Immersion testing tells you how well your product will hold up when submerged in liquid. The non-destructive testing method does not cause harm to the product in any way but produces defined images of defects. It can also be used to measure a material’s thickness, such as the wall of a pipe.

What are the applications of ultrasonic immersion testing?

Ultrasonic immersion testing is used in industries such as oil and gas, aerospace, power generation, navigation, medicine, and imaging. Ultrasonic immersion testing is used to inspect metal castings and forgings as well as welds for cracks and porosity. It can be used to inspect pipes and tubing for corrosion or in pressure tanks for wall loss.

It is also used in the inspection of gears and bearings for wear and tear. In the electronics manufacturing industry, cracks in solder joints are inspected using ultrasonic techniques. In pharma, products can be inspected for contaminants, and in the medical device manufacturing sector to inspect for defects or inconsistencies.

What are the advantages of ultrasonic immersion testing?

• Reduced maintenance costs, since predictive maintenance and inspection can reduce the chances of emergency repairs
• Improved equipment performance as problems can be identified and resolved in the manufacturing stage
• Extremely accurate – for example, thickness measurements from a few tenths of a millimetre are possible
• A wide range of materials can be measured from plastics to metals
• Submersing the composite gives enhanced and more accurate reporting of sub-surface irregularities
• More effective for inspecting than manual ultrasonic testing as it offers a better probability of detection (POD) of the smallest defects
• Ultrasonic immersion testing is especially useful in detecting smaller defects like cracking, inclusions, delaminations, or porosity as submersing the composite gives an enhanced and more accurate reporting of sub-surface irregularities.

Contact us today to know more about the range of ultrasonic immersion testing that Blue Star E&E has to offer!