Grown cracks for NDT development and qualification

摘要

Defects are needed to develop new NDT methods and to assess the performance and reliability of used methods and procedures. It is crucial to have representative defects in order to have an accurate and realistic assessment of the performance of NDT. Representativeness should be to the actual service-induced defects that the NDT method is used to evaluate. While various techniques have been used to create such defects, all conventional techniques seem to have some shortcomings that limit true assessment of the NDT performance. This paper describes recent developments of defect manufacturing technology based on controlled thermal fatigue. It is shown that most of the traditional limitations can be overcome using the currently available technology. Finally, three real-world application cases are presented showing the use of such cracks.