Ultrasonic plate tester
09/04/2013
Steel plate manufacturers had a requirement to test their as-rolled plate material to meet customer and standards requirements. Being a limited application, NDT staff did not need to know how to test welds, casting or forgings and were limited to using 0° compression probes. PCN had a set of documents that allowed this limited testing to be certified (UT 4/90 being one of them). ISO subsequently published ISO 20807: 2004 Non-destructive testing – Qualification of personnel for limited applications of non-destructive testing, which establishes a system for the qualification of personnel who perform NDT applications of a limited nature, such as ultrasonic thickness testing. Within the document there is a syllabus for the normal beam ultrasonic testing of plate materials during manufacture.ISO 20807 ultrasonic certificates issued by PCN and shown as a ‘p’ on the certification records are only for the use of the steel plate manufacturers and do not cover the inspection of plate or pipe material of in-service degradation, as encountered in the oil & gas sector, power generation sector or any other applications, such as bridges and structures. There is currently a working group looking at in-service degradation, initially in the oil & gas sector, using ultrasonic testing. The range and scope of the in-service degradation certification is expected to expand into other methods and sectors.
If you would like to become involved in the working group, contact John Moody, Technical Support Engineer at BINDT, by email: john.moody@bindt.org, who will introduce you to the group.
