New TFM course developed in co-operation with IMechE Argyll Ruane

ASME rules for diameter and thickness of a UT cal block got you all turned around? This is for you!

Well that didn’t take forever. Phew! This is the last chapter where I pick on notches. They’re tapping out.

Random ramblings about the rightest way to make good words when do report or whatever.

Inaugural winner of the Canadian Institute of NDE 2019 NDT Professional of the Year!

Not unlike waiting forever for the 2nd season of your thirteenth favourite Netflix series, here is Chapter 2. Regardless of which reference reflector you use, you should be able to predict the effect each one will have on your inspection. Go in armed, kids.

An entertaining romp through the hills and valleys (mostly valleys) of ultrasonic beam plotting and angles when dealing with curved surfaces. If you’re going to scan something “around the curve” and you don’t know what to do and maybe you’ve lost that old trigonometry textbook, don’t fret… I made you some tables.

Notches are the good ol’ “go to” reflectors, while side-drilled holes are like alien invaders. ASME allows both for piping inspections, but what’s the diff? This is Chapter 1, the real basic stuff.

New ultrasonic calibration blocks for piping welds designed by Holloway NDT to cover a wide range of sizes on the schedule chart. No more hunting for the missing calibration block! Available at PH Tool now.

Chuggier, darker, and more alien-imagery than the last one. What more could a prog-rock nerd ask for??

The 2018 edition fo the Canadian code for structural welding, CSA W59 has been released. On the ultrasonics side (because that’s why you’re here, right?) it features the new Annex X for sensitivity calibration with a DAC/TCG for both conventional and manual phased array inspections.

CSA codes are notoriously humourless. I’m trying really hard to keep it that way (sigh).

“A shameful display of self-promotion” - Paul’s Mom

The 2017 ASME code now requires the use of contoured wedges for pipe weld inspection.  The wording in the code is a little obtuse (to say the least).  This article attempts to explain what I think they were getting at.  And if you dig down into the crumbs at the bottom of the box, you'll find a nifty table-o-graph that answers all your questions.  Huzzah!

Don’t you hate it when they get mad you for doing your job? Alas, we’re always the bearers of bad news. (Oh Davis, you’re such an Omniscan holder…)

After a long hitch offshore and many UT readings later, I decided to patch together this short explanation of exactly how the echo-to-echo (or E-E) technique is used to measure "just the metal", and ignore the paint.  The difference between my rant and the myriad of others available is that the article is really short and illustrates the technique with simple math.  Print it out and hang it on your office wall, you'll be the envy of all the nerds in trailer town!

Frustrated with interfering echoes, I design my own PAUT calibration block. The holes are spaced far enough apart and the ends tapered such that reference hole and corner echoes are isolated from each other, allowing for a clean sensitivity calibration up to 6 inches of sound path.  Not bad for a 3/4" block.

Proud to announce that same little calibration block is now available from the fine folks at PH Tool. Click here.

In short: 6dB drop is just a guess, and can get you in trouble. Just say no! This was the precursor to the full article published in the ASNT ME Journal (Sep 2016).