Penetrant Material Waste Reduction and Process Improvement

Conversion to water washable penetrants and use of dry powder developers shows promise to improve performance while significantly reducing waste streams by elimination of hydrophilic emulsifier and water based developer. These materials also will reduce equipment maintenance costs and costs associated with process control. Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc. (TRI/Austin), in collaboration with Team Industrial Services, Inc. (TISI) and AP/ES Inc., proposes to conduct a probability of detection (POD) study to document the performance of Method A penetrants and compare the results to the performance of Method D. In addition, the TRI team will document the performance of form A developers and compare to forms B and C as well as propose a method to apply and remove developers in an automated system. In the Phase I work, TRI/Austin will manufacture crack specimens that will be inspected by TISI following guidelines from an experimental POD program developed by TRI. The results of the POD study will provide data to assess the performance of Method A penetrants and form A developers.