Synchrotron improves nondestructive testing

A DARTS product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 18, 2005

The synchrotron at Daresbury Laboratory is used in nondestructive testing to assess areas of structural weakness and potential failure in critical engineering components.

The need of designers, manufacturers and maintenance engineers for nondestructive techniques to assess areas of structural weakness and potential failure in critical engineering components is being met by the Darts team using the synchrotron at Daresbury Laboratory.

Synchrotron strain scanning has been developed into an advanced nondestructive engineering analysis tool using the high energy, high flux beams and large experimental area at the Daresbury synchrotron to characterise the strength and potential failure of structural components.

Detailed two and three dimensional strain maps of entire engineering components are obtained faster, to greater depth and more accurately than possible by any other method.

In structural engineering materials such as metals, alloys and ceramics, internal and external forces create strain fields which are responsible for the initiation of defects which can lead to a reduction in the lifespan of the component.

Traditional methods of stress analysis require the test specimen to be cut, thereby introducing the potential for stresses to be either relieved or added to.

Conventional laboratory X-ray diffraction methods do not penetrate the sample sufficiently and take a long time to collect sufficient data.

The technique has been used to examine new friction stir welding methods and finishing processes such as shot peening.

The discovery that component shape and dimensions exert a crucial influence on the residual stresses can be incorporated into designs that mitigate against mechanical failure.

Employed predominantly by the aerospace industry to date, this accurate method of determining residual stress distributions with high precision has recently been used to benefit other engineering industries.

A multinational automotive component manufacturer has used the technique to improve design and manufacture of pressurised fuel pipes.

This powerful tool supports engineers from initial design through efficient maintenance to the assessment of projected lifespans for safety-critical components.

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