New approach to optimise the ultrasonic testing of austenitic welds

摘要

To date, the ultrasonic inspection of austenitic alloys has formed the subject of a large number of publications describing quite a variety of techniques, but unfortunately, it was often observed that the results yielded by the actual application of a given technique were not always as good as those reported in the publications mentioned. That is why the problems associated with the selection of the adequate inspection technique for a given configuration of material/assembly/sought defect and its real efficiency are not solved yet. Lastly, there is no doubt that some progress has been made in the nuclear industry but the transfer to other industrial segments (for instance the petrochemical industry) has not taken place.