ADVANTECH NDT ACADEMY

Different Name of the Method

❖ LPT-Liquid Penetrant Testing

❖ PT -Penetrant Testing

❖ DPT- Dye Penetrant Testing

❖ DPI- Dye Penetrant Inspection

❖ PFD- Penetrant Flaw Detection

 PURPOSE OF LPT :-
To Detect the Discontinuities which is open to the Surface Only

Defect Type:
➢ Crack
➢Porosity (open to surface)
➢Lack of Penetration
➢Lack of Fusion
➢Forging Laps
➢Pin Holes
Principle :- Capillary Action.
Interaction of adhesive & Cohesive force.
Adhesive :- penetration with metal (job)
Cohesive Force – Penetration with developer.

[Note: Force between two dissimilar metal (adhesive),Force between two

similar metal(Cohesive)]
STEPS TO CARRY OUT IN PT

➢ Surface penetration/ Pre cleaning.

➢ Application of penetrant

➢ Remove of excess penetrant

➢ Application of developer

➢ Inspection

➢ Post Clean & Protection.

CHEMICAL MATERIAL USED FOR TEST:
1. Cleaner
➢ Solvent Cleaning
➢ Chemical Cleaning
➢ Mechanical Cleaning

2. Penetrant
➢ Type-1:- Fluorescent Dye (Visible Only Ultra Violet light)
➢ Type-2 :- Color Contrast (Visible in ordinary light)
➢ Type-3 :- Color Sensitivity (Combination of Fluorescent “Dye and color Contrast dye.
Examined under Ultraviolet as well as ordinary light.”
3. Developer

There are Four forms of developer:

1. Dry Developer (Chemically insert white powder)
2. Wet
a) Aqueous (Water base)
b) Water Solution Developer (Water soluble Particle)
Water Suspension Developer (Insoluble Particle)

3) Non- Aqueous
Solvent Suspension developers (Insoluble particle)

4. Special Type of Developers : Plastic Film Developer.

 Seven Basic Steps of PT
➢ Step-1 : Cleaning : Clean the surface Properly . This is
necessary to remove oil or any greasy material that may be
blocking the discontinuing opening thus preventing the entry
of the penetrant.

➢ Step-2:- Application of Penetrant :- The Penetrant is next

applied to the area of interest on the component. This may
be done by dipping, Spraying or swabbing. The penetrant is
usually red or Violet in color in the case of visible dye
penetrant and yellowish green in the case of fluorescent
liquid penetrant.
➢ Step-3 : Removal of Excess penetrant :- After permitting the
penetrant to stay for sufficient time to penetrant the discontinues
(dwell time), if any the excess liquid penetrant from the test
surface is removed leaving the penetarnt inside the discontinuity
interact.

➢ Step-4: Application of Developer : Apply a Developer and allow

sufficient time (developing time) so that the developer draws out
the penetrant in the discontinuity. The Developer provides the
necessary Contrast (Developing Time) which indicate clearly the
presence of penetrant.

➢ Step-5: Evolution of the Indication :- The Specimen is observed

Carefully and evaluated for Flow indications. In case fluorescent
penetrant is employed Ultraviolet Lamp As shown is used.

➢ Step-6 :- Removal of Residues: On Completion of the test and

preparation of the report the residual developer and penetrant
are throughly cleaned off the Component.

➢ Step-7 : Application of Protective Coating : On Removal From

Corrosive Elements by the application of appropriate Coating.
TECHNICAL PROPERTIES
➢ Penetrability: Whether the penetrant enter the
discontinuity easily.
➢ Wettabilty: Whether the penetrant smears on the surface of the
specimen & the discontinuity.

➢ Dwell Time: How much time the penetrant takes to enter the
discontinuity.

➢ Physical properties.
a) Contact Angle Φ
b) Surface Tension/Surface energy
c) Viscosity
Contact Angle: It is the Angle that the liquid (Penetrant makes with the surface
on which it is smeared).
Surface Tension :- This Tend to minimize the surface area of the liquid.

Air

Air

Atom

Atom

Liquid

Liquid

Low Surface Tension High Surface Tension

An atom inside the liquid The force experienced by

experience equal forces in the surface atom is not
all the direction same in all the direction
Capillary Effect

When discontinuities dimension (width) is very small capillary forces will come into
play. The capillary effects helps in the penetarnt the Penetrant discontinuing.

Ø Contact Angle greater Ø Contact Angle less than 90

than 90 result in result in capillary rise (very
depression (very poor Good wetting)
wetting)
Physical Principles
High penetrantabilty is achieved by penetarnt having the following properties.
❖High surface Tension
❖High Wetabilty or low Contact Angle.
❖Smaller the Capillary radius.

Viscosity
High Viscous penetrant,penetrant slower if the penetrant is highly viscous and
the rate of penetration is slower than one may have to increase the dwell or
penetrant time.

Types of Surface
1. Oil & Grease
2. Rust or Scales(Oxidation Products)
3. Paints & Conversion Coating
4. Carbon, Varnish etc.
 Surface Cleaning

Rust Scale, Oxide etc Rust, Scale oxide etc

Oil & Grease
Acid Cleaning Detergent Alkaline Wire Sand Machine
Cleaning Cleaning Brushing Blasting etc grinding
etc

Simple Vapour Ultrasonic

Wiping degreasing Cleaning
Penetrant Types
Basically penetrant are divide into two types

1. Fluorescent Penetrant- Fluorescent penetrant contain a dye or several

dye that fluorescent when exposed to ultraviolet (black light) radiation.

2. Visible Penetrant contain a red dye that provides high contrast against
the white developer background.

NOTE: Fluorescent penetrant system are more sensitivity to detect

flaws than visible penetrant

Penetrant Application Method

Component

1. When entire surface is to be inspected many small parts. Complex shaped parts.
2. While testing large parts, If only selected area needs to be inspected.
3. Selected area to be inspected
Method
1. Immersion/ Dipping
2. Spraying
3. Brushing

Dwell Time Penetrant

Minimum Dwell times typically are in the range of 5 to 60 minute.

Dwell times are usually recommended by the penetrate manufacture or required by
the specification (Code) being Followed.

The Dwell time is Depend on:

1. The Application used.
2. The material
3. Form of a material being inspected and type of discontinuities to be detected.

Classification of the Penetrants:

The sensitivity levels are

1. Level 1/2 – Ultra Low Sensitivity
2. Level 1 - Low Sensitivity
3. Level 2 – Medium Sensitivity
4. Level 3 – High Sensitivity
5. Level-4 - Ultra High Sensitivity.
Comparison
A comparison between the penetarnt used in visible and fluorescent penetarnt
inspection methods.

Property Visible Dye Fluorescent Dye.

Appearance Red Color Yellowish green (Under
Ultra violet radiation)

Back ground White color of the Dark

developer
Sensitivity Normal High
Excess Penetrant Removal

There are Four types of Excess Penetrant Removal

➢Method A
➢Method B
➢Method C
➢Method D
Note-Emulsifier—A liquid that interacts with an oily substance to make it water-
removable
Method A

“Water- washable”. This has emulsifiers built into the penetrant liquid that makes it
possible to remove the excess penetrant with a simple water wash.

Method B

Post Emulsifiable, lipophillic these penetrates that are based on oil , are insoluble in
water . In such situations we use an emulsifier that is soluble both in water and
penetrant. The emulsifier diffuses and reacts with the penetrant & makes it water –
washable.

Steps
➢Application of Penetrant
➢Application of Emulsifier
➢Application of water wash

Method C

Solvent removable : Dissolve the penetrant and remove the same (SR) (oil base)
This method release on a solvent cleaner to remove the excess penetrant form
the part being inspected.
In this method the excess surface penetarnt is removed by solvent action by using
organic solvents that have solvent action on the oil base penetrates.
Method D

In this method the penetrant requires an additional processing step where a

separate emulsification agent is applied to make the excess penetrant removable
with a water wash.
Hydrophilic emulsifier is applied by immersion or some agitation is required for
Effective emulsification.
Steps:-
➢Application of Penetrant
➢Application of water
➢Application of Emulsification
➢Application of water wash
[Emulsification take time 5 to 10 minutes]

Developers

Developing Action :- After Cleaning the surface, and after the removal of the
excess surface penetrant the next step is called developing step.

Properties of Developers

The Developer should assist in the seepage of the penetrant out of the
discontinuities and suck out or extract or blot out the penetrant so as to form visual
indication.
Types of Developers
i. Dry (Form a)
ii. Wet (Water, soluble (Form-b),water suspended (Form-c))
iii. Non-Aqueous developers (non-aqueous suspended ) (form D)
iv. Special type of developers (Plastic Film developers)(Form E)
❖ Dry Developers

Dry Developers use finer absorbing material in the size range 2-4 , material like
talc, Chalk etc that are white in color are preferred.

❖ Dry Powder

Dry powders are white, soft powders. The developer can be applied in a
number of ways like by dipping parts in a container of developer or by using a
puffer to dust parts with the developer.

❖ Water Soluble

As the name implies, water soluble developers consists of a group of

chemicals that are dissolved in water and form a developer layer when the
water is evaporated away.
❖ Water Suspendible

Water suspendible developers consist of insoluble developer particles

suspended in water. Water suspendible developers require frequent string or
agitation to keep the particles from setting out of suspension.

❖ Non- Aqueous Developers

In non aqueous developers, The developer is suspended in a volatile

solvent and is applied with a spray gun. Non- aqueous developers are
commonly distributed in aerosol spray for portability.
The solvent tends to pull penetrant from the indications by solvent
action, forced drying is not required as the solvent is volatile.

❖ Developers for Special applications

Plastic or lacquer developers are special developers that are primarily used
when a permanent record of the discontinuities is required.
Application of Developer

Type Application
1. Dry Developer 1. Air Suspension
2. Electrostatic Spraying
3. Immersion
1. Wet Developers 1. Dipping
2. Aqueous wet 2. Spraying
3. Water soluble 3. Pouring
Non-aqueous 1.Spraying (no dipping)
1. Solvent Suspended
2. Plastic Film Developers
 Reference Block

Aluminum Block Chrome Nickel Block

Fine Crack
Fine Notch size(10x20) micron
Notch by- EDM processor
(For Penetrant Quality)
(For test sensitivity )
 Indication

Relevant (True)
Non Relevant (False)

Continuous Intermitted Rounded

➢ Continuous line :- indication are discontinuities such as cracks, Seams, Cold
shuts and forging laps. They can be jagged, like most cracks or very straight, like
a seam indication. (___________).

➢ Intermittent Line:- Indication are caused by the same as above

discontinuities as continuous lines indications (- - - - - - - - - - -)

➢ Round or dot indications are caused by porosity, Pin holes a porous surface
or a coarse grain structure(o o o o o o). Rounded indication also can be caused
by Crater cracks because they tend to trap large amounts of penetrant.

➢A rounded indication becomes a linear indication when the length of the

indication is more than three times of the width.
Name of Common Discontinuities

Some of the discontinuities detect by PT

i. Heat treatment Cracks

ii. Fatigue Cracks

iii. Machine Cracks

iv. Porosity(open to surface)

v. Cold Shut

vi. Seams

vii. Pin holes in welds

viii.Lack of fusion etc.

Casting Defect
Some Casting discontinuities revealed by liquid penetrate testing.

Cold Shut Incompletely fused parts of the same

casting.

Small narrow cavities appearing near

Shrinkage
the faces

Macro or Micro gas cavities not very

Porous Structure
visible to naked eye

Hot Tear Irregular Shaped discontinuities occurs

near solids temperature may revel
dendrite pattern

Hard Spot Hard inclusion in permanent mold or

die cast aluminum alloy

Cold Tearing Occurs during Cooling unlike as

in hot tearing here the surface as
not oxides
Defect in welding

1. Cracks in the heat affected zone

2. Cracks in the weld
3. Hydrogen cracking exposed to the surface
4. Lack of penetration
5. Porosity open to the surface
HAZ
6. Undercut

Weld
Inspection should be more than 3 mm distance from welding
area
Defect in Metal Forming

1. Surface Cracks in the rolled products

2. Laps and folds in forgings

3. Rupture or flake

4. Forging lap will appear as a continuous line in PT

5. Surface Lamination occur in rolled plates

6. Cracks or seams or inclusions in rolled bar stock

7. A lap in an aluminum forging will give an indication in PT as sharp

half moon shaped but not deep

8. A partially welded forging lap will appear as intermitted line in PT