Non-Destructive testing of Tungsten inert gas

welded joint in a wishbone

Pankaj Mahato#, Parth Mittal #
#

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Shahabad Daulatpur, Main

Bawana Road, New Delhi-110042, India.

AbstractThis paper gives an overview of various NonDestructive testing methods for the detection of
defects occurring in metals during welding in
wishbone-shaped arms in a formula one car. Every
welding technique imparts damage to the material
mostly in the form of porosity and cracks. There exist
several Non-Destructive testing methods for analysis
and detection of these deformities without actually
causing any further change in their setting. Each
technique uses a different principal for detection of
defect. Depending on metal and welding process used,
Non-Destructive testing methods like X-ray
radiography, Ultrasonic inspection, Thermography,
Eddy current and Penetration dye technique.
Different techniques are chose based on geometry,
physical and material properties of the metal used.

These defects are needed to be detected and

eradication as they may lead to structural failure if
left to persist in material. Non-Destructive testing
plays a major role in detection of these defects.
Wishbone-shaped Arms are used in double
wishbone suspension system which plays a very
important role in anti-rolling system of the car. At a
very high speed, the car tends topples during a role.
Wishbone suspension ensures that the wheels keep
in contact with the road and gives a better steering
control to the driver.

Keywords- Non-destructive testing methods, Eddy

current testing, Ultrasonic testing, Welding defects,
Thermography testing.

INTRODUCTION
Welding is a process of joining two materials,
usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing fusion.
Filler material is often added to the joint to form a
pool of molten metal that cools to form a joint.
Sometimes, fusion may be carried out by
application of pressure.
The defects in the welding processes occur mainly
in the form of cracks and pores. The cracks are
formed due to thermal shrinkage or combination of
strain accompanying thermal shrinkage and phase
change. For e. g., alloy steel has a Carbon content
greater than 0. 2%. If it is being welded, the selfcooling processes is fast enough to form Martensite
which is brittle in nature and thus forms crack in it.
The cracks may differ in size depending on the
process of welding and finishing. Whereas the
pores are formed due to trapping of gases in the
solidifying weld material.

Fig 1. Pictures of test specimen with dimensions.

Non-destructive testing (NON-DESTRUCTIVE

TESTING) is based on techniques that rely on the
application of physical principles to determine the
characteristics of materials and to detect and assess
flaws or harmful defects without change of the
usefulness or serviceability of said materials [1]. It
is a very cost-effective, time saving and ensures

safety of use and reliability in wide range of

industries.

B. Ultrasonic Testing
Ultrasonic waves are the waves with frequency
range of 500 KHz -10000 KHz. These are used in
Non-Destructive testing applications as these
Ultrasonic waves are more directional than audible
sound waves and travel freely in liquid and solid.
[5][6]
Longitudinal waves are faster and can travel in both
in solid and liquid medium whereas shear wave
forms when material particles oscillate normally to
the direction of wave propagation. These shear
waves also require acoustically solid media to
travel and hence they do not proceed effectively in
liquids and gases. Due to these reasons,
longitudinal waves are used in Non-Destructive
testing applications. [7]

Table 1: Applicable Non-destructive testing techniques for

various types of defects[2]

A. Penetration dye Technique

One of the methods commonly adopted is
Penetration dye Technique. With this, it is possible
to detect cracks and pores which have special
potential to lead to failure of the weld. Penetrant
test is more efficient than the visual test. It is done
by increasing the visible contrast between the flaws
and background by treating the whole object with a
searching liquid of high mobility and penetrating
power.

Porosity and cracks are detectable because they

contain solid air interfaces that transmit very little
and reflect large amount of sound. An electrical
signal generator sends a burst of electrical energy
to a piezoelectric crystals causing an electromotive
force or voltage difference to generate on its either
two ends, which causes the crystals to vibrate and
convert electrical pulses to electromechanical
vibrations. The piezoelectric crystals will also
convert the returning sound waves back to
electrical signals. High frequency waves are more
sensitive to smaller defects while low frequency
can penetrate to greater depths. As the ultrasonic
beam passes the weld it gets attenuated due to
scattering, absorption and beam spreading. Thicker
laminates attenuates more than thinner laminates.
[9]

FLOW CHART1: (DYE PENETRATION PROCESS) [3]

There is a general fear that components or welds

tested with dye penetrant and which are used in the
environment of Cryo- Vacuum and particularly in
the ultra-high vacuum, conditions are contaminated
by the dye. [4] This fear is mostly based on
creeping and penetrating characteristics of the
particular dye used. After the Penetration dye
Technique, the penetrant dye may remain in the
pores and cracks and might cause virtual leaks due
the extended outgassing (Highly evacuated parts,
Vacuum). As penetrant dye, mainly consists of
hydrocarbons which is critical for outgassing in
fusion processes like welding. [4]

FLOW CHART 2:(Spurious indications)[3].

There are two types of ultrasonic testing techniques

Through Transmission (TT) and Pulse -echo
ultrasonic technique (PE)
Through transmission transducer generates a
longitudinal ultrasonic wave that travels through
the weld and is received by the receiver at the other
end. If the weld contains some defects, some of the
sound will either be absorbed or scattered so that
some of the sound will not be received by the
receiving end. Mylar films and nylon tapes are

difficult to detect with through transmission. It

cannot detect type of foreign defects and depth of
defect. It is mostly conducted in water tank. [8]
Pulse echo ultrasonic inspection is frequently used
with (TT), sound is transmitted and received by the
same transducer. Amplitude of the echo received
from back surface is reduced by the presence of
defects in the structure. Time delay of pulse tells
about the depth of the defect and attenuation about
the type of internal defect.[8]
While pulse- echo transducer needs to be aligned
within 2 normal to the surface, while through
transmission can tolerate misalignment upto 10.
While through transmission is good at detecting
pores it cannot tell the difference between scattered
and planar porosities, if defect densities are similar.
[8]

Cracks parallel to the radiation beam and cracks

smaller than the resolutions are hard to detect.
Defects must be 2% in the size of the thickness of
the material so that it can be effectively detected.
[8]
As Radiography consists of ionized radiations,
there are various health hazards which can be
prevented by increasing the distance to the
radiation source or otherwise using some shielding.
Radiography is also an expensive Non-Destructive
testing technique.
Radiographic inspection is carried out with gamma
and X-rays. Two inspection geometries can be used
Double wall-single image and single wall-single
image.
For gammagraphy test, test films are used for each
weld and for the X-rays at the joint. To help on
visualizing the defects on the radiographic film,
allowing identification and sizing. The filters are
digitized, zoomed.
However, use of filters should be carried out
carefully in order to not to lose any resulting
information in the image that could result in
variation in size of the defect.
D. Thermography Inspection
The thermography testing uses infrared imaging in
detection of the defects in the components. The
thermograph gives an image showing the real time
thermal spectrum of the material to be tested. All
the bodies emit infrared waves above the absolute
temperature i. e. 0 K which are in the form of
spatial or temporal distribution and these are
recorded using a IR camera. The defects are
detected where the heat flow is disturbed on a
thermograph.[11]

Figure 2 and 3: Depiction of mechanism of Through

Transmission Ultrasonic and Pulse Echo ultrasonics. [7]

C. X-Ray Radiography
Radiography involves penetration of a material
with a high frequency electromagnetic radiation.
The amount of radiation that passes through the
object is captured by the detector. Any cavity or
discontinuity leads to a detectable variation in
absorption. [9][10]
CT- scanning is used to generate 3-D crosssectional image of the entire part. Typical defects
that can be detected using this technique are
porosities, cracks etc.
Fig 3: Pulsed thermography schematic showing how defects
lead to a distortion of the heat flow through the component [11]

The thermal non- destructive testing uses active

thermography in which the heat waves are sent by
both internal and external sources, helps in
measurement of depth, thickness and size of the
internal flaw.
The Non-destructive testing methods used globally
are lock-in or pulse thermography for the detection
of defect. Other information concerning active
thermograph and NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
is provided in [12, 13]. The modulation period of
the excitation applying lock in thermograph can be
extended up to several minutes [14, 15] whereas
pulse thermograph is used for achieving preferable
test timings.
In pulse thermography the stimulus is applied
through flash pulse. A large range of IR camera
active sources and analytic tools are available for
monitoring the different objects responses to active
sources.
The main advantage of active thermography is that
it is a fast non-contact method that provides full
field information. [16] It is a cost efficient method
[17] for testing damages in the weld metal and
provides further advantage by automation. [13, 18]
E. Eddy Current Testing
Eddy current testing is one of the most extensively
used techniques for inspection of conducting
materials very quickly. This method permits testing
at a very high speed up to 150m/s when done on an
automated assembly line under harsh operating
environment. Eddy current can be used to inspect a
large variety of materials, both ferromagnetic and
non-ferromagnetic.
The eddy current testing is based on the principle
of mutual inductance between the test piece and
magnetic field source. Their interactions produce
eddy currents which can be monitored to detect the
small cracks and faults in the test piece.

Fig 4: Primary and secondary magnetic field. Eddy current on

the test piece (adapted from [19]).

When the alternating current carrying coil is

brought near the test piece, the time varying
magnetic field induces circular eddy currents.
These eddy currents induce a secondary magnetic
field opposing the primary magnetic field from the
coil as shown in the figure.
According to Faradays, the time varying magnetic
flux density induces current in an electric
conductor. The induced electromotive force

is proportional to the rate of change of magnetic

flux density with time.

d B
dt

(1)

If the coil has an impedance Z which has a

magnitude |Z| and phase .

Zo=

Vo
=R o + j X o (2)
Io

When the test piece is held near to the coil, the

secondary magnetic field causes the weakening of
primary magnetic field. The imaginary part of coil
impedance decreases with increasing eddy current
and as the power decreases the real part also
changes, changing the coil impedance to
from

Zc

Z o . [20]

Z c =R c + j X c

(3)

When a crack is there, it causes an objection in

eddy current flow because the crack causes the

eddy current path to be longer and the secondary

magnetic field is thus reduced.
Therefore the real part of impedance decreases
which is due to its relation with power dissipation
due to eddy current whereas the imaginary part of
impedance increases due to the increase in net
magnetic field from the primary and secondary
magnetic fields.
This change in eddy current is used to detect the
cracks and faults in the material. The detected
difference between the reference sample and the
defective sample in the signal helps in analysing
the crack for the information regarding its depth
and length.

C. Thermography analysis
For the testing of the specimen, an infrared camera
and thermal source with flash light was used to
perform pulse thermography. The defects were
easily identified as they disturbed the heat flow in
the test piece which could be seen in the thermal
image. Whereas, the actual depth of penetration of
heat could be estimated. Thus, it was not clearly
distinguished that whether the flaw or the surface
characteristics were shown in the thermograms.

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS
A. Test specimen preparation
The test specimen is a wishbone shaped arm which
consists of two rods. It is made by welding two
Mild steel rods of length 35 cm and at an angle of
41.33 . The welding technique used is Tungsten
inert gas welding.
B. Dye penetration testing kit
Here red penetrant was used which is composed of
aliphatic hydrocarbons, surfactants. The surface
was cleaned thoroughly with cleaner (CL01, CL02)
and dried sufficiently. The penetrant was sprayed or
applied with brush to get a uniform and thin
coating. Dwell time of 5-15 minutes is allowed
after which excess penetrant was wiped off.
Developer (RD01, RD02) was sprayed on the
surface . After sufficient dwell time of developer
cracks were indicated as thin red lines against white
background of developer. The surface of part was
cleaned using the cleaner.

Fig 6.Fluke thermography camera from DTU lab

CONCLUSION
The various Non-destructive testing methods have
been explained. (Penetration dye testing,
Ultrasonic, Thermography, X-ray radiography and
eddy current testing).

Fig 5.Dyes used

X-ray radiography techniques are more expensive

than thermography and ultrasonic equipment but it
has a higher reliability and reachability.
Thermography experiment, as done by us, shows
that any crack or porosity is easily detected by it.
Therefore it is also used in medium thick welds.

For very thick walled welds, Ultrasonic or eddy

current may be used. Dye penetration testing is also
used at various places with different thicknesses but
the dye used needs to be frequently change
depending on extent of mobility and penetration
required. Therefore, all the methods have some
limitations as well as advantages. So, they need to
be chosen wisely considering all factors such as
economy, metal being welded, thickness of the
weld etc.
The automation of these machine is also a very
easy process. The automation can be carried out by
aligning the machines in a line following the
production line. They will filter out the product
which is defective. The machines can be aligned
based on the time consumption and effectiveness of
their respective techniques.

D. Ultrasonic testing
Ultrasonic waves were sent using Sonatest
masterscan. It has an active edge transmitter using
which the pulse was driven on both the leading and
trailing edge. The echo was observed on the
scanner screen and there was too much attenuation
due to the surface feature of the welded joint. The
backwall echo was not detected on the screen.
There may be several reasons for lack of
penetration. This could be failure due to geometry
or mismatching between inspected surface and the
surface sending ultrasonic waves. These factors
could have large attenuation that was shown as near
surface flaws.

Fig.7 Sonatest Masterscan

FUTURE SCOPE OF WORK

The patterns in the different welds created by
different welding techniques has to be observed by
Non-destructive testing to get a suitable technique
for every kind and shape of metal to be welded.

The various third party software are to be brought

in use to control and supervise the automated NDT
methods. This has to be tested and a layout of the
line has to be made with various testing stations to
minimize the cost and time.
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