TPT March 2007

I nspection, M easuring, T esting & M arking

the company has since installed over 60 Flash Gauges around the world. Like the Flash Gauge, Western’s mill-line weld testing systems are renowned for testing the weld area immediately after flash removal. Exclusive pipe mill probes form the basis of these tubular testing systems. These probes, with their integral transducers, have been developed specifically to follow the surface of welded tube and pipe. Western’s multi-channel systems are highly advanced due to their superior mechanical designs. Western Instruments has always tailored its ultrasonic instrumentation and controls to the specific application of either mill-line or conveyer-line installations. The company has introduced a number of innovations including high speed gating, multiple gates per channel, multi-channel operator displays, and coupling monitoring. Western Instruments – USA Fax : +1 780 459 7837 Email : info@westerninstruments.com Website : www.westerninstruments.com TAC Technical Instrument Corp, USA, manufactures the Tactic™ line of ultrasonic inspection systems for bars, billets and tubes for the production of precision parts for critical applications. This equipment is used for testing material of round, rectangular and hexagonal cross sections. System configurations are designed for high-volume, semi- automatic production tests or for lower quantity manual operation. The company also provides instrument calibration services, reference block certifications and transducer profiling. Typical ASTM standards accommodated include A 450A 450M, E 127, E 213, E 273, E 314, E 317, E 1001, E 1065, E 2375 and others. The company’s systems provide material handling and transducer positioning apparatus and can utilise a range of flaw detection instruments. These are connected to TAC’s specialised instruments for automatic stopping, marking, or sorting of defect indications. TAC Technical Instrument Corp – USA Fax : +1 609 882 3147 Email : tactictest@aol.com Website : www.tactictest.com Tactic line of ultrasonic inspection systems

Ultrasonic testing systems for welded tube and pipe mills

Western Instruments, USA, is a specialist in the manufacture of ultrasonic testing systems for welded tube and pipe mills. These tube and pipe UT systems are designed to meet industry specifications such as API, ISO, ASTM, and CSA, for both mill-line and conveyer-line applications. Systems are offered for both electric resistance welded (ERW), and spiral/

straight seam submerged arc welded (SAW) processes. One of Western’s highly regarded innovations was the introduction of the Inside Flash Gauge in 1987. The Flash Gauge is installed on the mill-line immediately downstream of the welder and flash cutting tools, and draws a profile of the outside and inside weld geometry. With continuous improvements to this product,

fi A 24" mill-line installation (630mm) OD, with a 6 channel weld testing system (left) and a Flash Gauge (right)

Advanced ultrasonic flaw detection system Olympus NDT, USA, has launched the OmniScan iX advanced ultrasonic data acquisition system for tubular flaw detection, designed for high-speed immersion or non- immersion testing of critical components.

The system can be configured for 2, 4, or 8 conventional ultrasound channels, and features a high-resolution VGA display, strip chart, 16 logical alarms, 16 analogue outputs, and helicoidal scan mode. The compact OmniScan iX is housed in a rugged bench-top casing, and is also available in a rack-mount version for integration into inline production testing systems.

› Olympus NDT’s OmniScan iX

Tubular flaw detection can be configured using multiple channels to achieve 100 per cent inspection of critical defects. Inspections often require the ability to interrogate for ID and OD notches and internal flaws or delaminations. Five pulse-echo channels are often required: two transducers diametrically opposed for axial-flaw detection, two transducers diametrically opposed for transverse flaw detection, and one 0º probe for thickness- or laminar-flaw indications. Additional channels can be used for oblique angles.

Olympus NDT Inc – USA Fax : +1 781 419 3980 Email : info@olympusndt.com Website : www.olympusndt.com

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