ME 367:MODULE II

Non-Destructive
INTRODUCTION TO LIQUID
Testing
PENETRANT TESTING
Module 2

Liquid Penetrant Inspection

Syam Prasad G
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sreepathy Institute of Management & Technology
Vavanoor, Palakkad

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 LIQUID PENETRANT
TESTING

• Liquid penetrant inspection is one of

the oldest and most widely used non-
destructive testing methods.
• It utilizes the natural accumulation
of a fluid around a discontinuity to
create a recognizable indication of a
crack.
• It is also called as dye penetrant
inspection.

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 LIQUID PENETRANT TESTING
(CONTINUE)

• Penetrant testing can be applied to most of materials

including metallic and non metallic objects
• Metallic materials include aluminum, magnesium, titanium,
cast iron, stainless steel, powdered metal products, copper,
brass, bronze, etc.
• Non metallic materials include ceramics,plastic, molded
rubber, composites, glass, etc.
• Penetrant testing can’t be applied on a porous surface

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 PENETRANT TESTING
HISTORY
• Penetrant first used in 1900s to detect cracks in locomotive parts
• The method was called oil and whiting
• The method used dirty lubricating oil that was thinned with kerosene
followed by application of chalk coating which absorbed oil from
the cracks
• In 1940s fluorescent or visible dye was added to the oil

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Penetrants
• The penetrants are mixtures of
organic solvents, which are
characterized their ability to wet
materials, spread rapidly and
penetrate into minute defects.
Developer
• Developer is good absorbent
material capable of drawing traces
trapped penetrants from the
discontinues back into surfaces.
• It also provides a light background
to increase contrast when visual
penetrant is used
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 PROCEDURE FOR LPI

Clean & dry test object

Apply penetrant and let it

penetrate

Remove excess penetrant

Apply developer

Inspect & Evaluate

indications

Post clean test object

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 BASIC PROCESSING STEPS OF A
LIQUID PENETRANT INSPECTION
1. Pre-clean part.
• This can range from grinding and wire brushing to merely wiping
the part with a rag moistened with the cleaner/ remover.
• The surface needs to be free of dirt, rust, scale, paint, oil, and
grease, and be smooth enough to wipe off the penetrant without
leaving residue

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2. Penetrant Application:
• Once the surface has been thoroughly cleaned and dried,
the penetrant material is applied by spraying, brushing, or
immersing the part in a penetrant bath

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4. Excess Penetrant Removal:
• This is the most delicate part of the inspection procedure
because the excess penetrant must be removed from the
surface of the sample while removing as little penetrant as
possible from defects.
• Depending on the penetrant system used, this step may
involve cleaning with a solvent, direct rinsing with water, or
first treating the part with an emulsifier and then rinsing with
water

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5. Developer Application
• A thin layer of developer is then applied to the sample to
draw penetrant trapped in flaws back to the surface where it
will be visible.
• Developers come in a variety of forms that may be applied
by dusting (dry powdered), dipping, or spraying (wet
developers).

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6. Evaluate indications.
• It is critical to examine the part within the time frame designated in
the written procedure.
• Length of an indication can grow over time as penetrant bleeds out,
causing an acceptable indication to be a rejectable defect.
• Length of indication is measured for evaluation, not length of the
flaw.
• Here, the two linear indications are rejectable defects. The round
indication is non relevant.

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7. Post-clean part.
• The part needs to be cleaned to remove all developer
after it has been evaluated.

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 TYPES OF PENETRANTS
1. Based on Physical Properties
i) Fluorescent Penetrants
ii) Visual penetrants
i) Fluorescent penetrants are generally green in colour and
they contain dye that glow brightly when exposed to UV
lights
ii)Visual penetrants are usually red in colour that provide
high contrast against the white developer background

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TYPES OF PENETRANTS (CONTD…)
2) Based on Removal Technique
i. Solvent removable
ii. Water washable
iii. Post Emulsifiable

i) Solvent Removable
In this method, Penetrants are removed by wiping with a cloth
dampened with solvent.

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ii) Water Washable/WW
• Have a built in emulsifier, easily removed by water rinse
• Typical rinse procedure are (refer to manual):
➢ Pressure < 40 psi
➢ Temperature 10o - 38o C
➢ Angle 45o - 75o

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iii) Post Emulsifiable

• Not contain emulsifying agent, not

soluble in water
• Emulsifier applied to remove excess
penetrant by dipping, spraying, or
flowing
• Emulsifier dwell time is 1 – 4 minutes.
• Penetrant –emulsifier mixture is
removed by water rinse
• There are 2 types of emulsifier,
lipophilic and hydrophilic

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 LIPOPHILIC EMULSIFIER

• Mechanism of lipophilic emulsification is by diffusion

• Both molecules of emulsifier and penetrant penetrate each other to
form a washable mixture
• Rate of diffusion increases as concentration and temperature raised

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 HYDROPHILIC EMULSIFIER
• Is a water based solution, mixture of chemical called surfactant
• Works based on principle of peeling the penetrant
• Need pre-rinsing prior to emulsifier application to help remove 60 –
80 % penetrant and provide an even surface
• Applied by immersion or spraying

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 3 BASED ON STRENGTH
INDICATION
• I) LEVEL ½- ULTRA LOW SENSITIVITY
• II) LEVEL 1- LOW SENSITIVITY
• III) LEVEL 2- MEDIUM SENSITIVITY
• IV) LEVEL 3- HIGH SENSITIVITY
• V) LEVEL 4- ULTRA HIGH SENSITIVITY

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 PROPERTIES OF GOOD PENETRANT
1. Capillarity
It is the ability of a liquid to flow in narrow spaces without
the assistance of external forces. This property helps the
penetrant to fill a void.

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2. Contact Angle
➢ Angle formed by the solid-liquid interface and liquid – vapour
interface measured from the side of a liquid is called contact
angle.
➢ Mostly the liquid penetrant has contact angle of 00

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3. Viscosity
• Viscosity is the internal resistance of a liquid to flow. The
penetrants with less viscosity fill the cracks in time

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4. Surface Tension
• Surface tension is nothing but wetting capability of a liquid.
Penetrant should have good wetting capability to spread over
the surface

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5. Cohesiveness and Adhesiveness
• The attractive force between like molecules and unlike
molecules called cohesiveness and Adhesive forces
respectively

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6. Specific Gravity
• Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a liquid to the
density of the standard liquid. Penetrant have Sp Gravity less
than one

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7.Non-Flammable
• The penetrant should have high flash point to avoid fire hazards
8.Volatility
• Tendency of a substance to evaporate at normal temperature is called
volatility
• It depends upon boiling point
• Penetrants should have high boiling point to be less volatile
9. Removability
• The penetrant should be easily removable from the surface but
should provide resistance to being removed from the discontinuities
10. Indicating Capability
• A penetrant must provide good indication which can be identified
with less effort.
• The colour of penetrant is an important factor in indication
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 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD
PENETRANTS
• It should spread easily over the surface being inspected
• It should be easily drawn into discontinuities by capillary
action
• It should not be harmful to the inspector or the material being
tested
• It should possess high indicating capability
• It should remain in fluid state
• It should possess less dwell time
• It should not affect the physical and chemical properties of the
testing material
• It should be cohesive, adhesive and relatively
• Low cost
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PROPERTIES OF GOOD DEVELOPER
It should have good absorption characteristics

It should have a good contrast background

It should be able to uniformly cover the surface with the thin

smooth coating

It should be chemically inert with test material

It should provide a good contrast background for bright and

clean indications

It should be non toxic

It should be easy to remove after inspection

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 TYPES OF DEVELOPERS
1. DRY POWDER DEVELOPERS
2. WATER SUSPENDABLE DEVELOPERS
3. WATER SOLUBLE DEVELOPERS
4. NON-AQUEOUS DEVELOPERS

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 1. DRY POWDER DEVELOPERS

• It is a mix of light feathery powder that clumps where

penetrant bleeds back to the surface in order to produce
very defined indications

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 2. WATER- SUSPENDABLE
DEVELOPER
• Water suspendable developers consist of insoluble
developers particles suspended in water.
• Water-suspendable developers require frequent stirring to
keep the particle from setting out of suspension

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 3. WATER SOLUBLE DEVELOPER
• Water soluble developer is a crystalline powder that forms
a clear solution when mixed with water.
• The solution recrystallizes on the surface when the water is
drained

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 4. NON AQUEOUS
• Non Aqueous developer suspend the developer in a
volatile solvent.
• It is supplied by a spray gun or aerosol can and it is most
sensitive developer for inspecting small areas

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PENETRANT TEST METHODS

Commonly used penetrant testing

methods are:

• 1) Water Washable Method

• 2) Post Emulsifiable Method
• 3) Solvent Removable Method

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WATER WASHABLE METHOD

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POST EMULSIFIABLE METHOD

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SOLVENT REMOVABLE METHOD

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INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
SL NO Defect Descripton

1 Casting Porosity Spherical surface Indications

2 Casting Cold Shut Dotted lines

3 Cracks Staight continuous surface lines

4 Hot tears Ragged line of variable width

5 Heat treat Cracks Multiple irregular lines

6 Thermal cracks interconnecting lines

7 Lack of fusion Broken line of varying width

8 Fatigue cracks continuous line in parts

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 FALSE INDICATIONS
• A false indication is an accumulation of penetrant caused by
a drop of penetrant left on the workpiece.
• However, there are two conditions which may create
accumulations of penetrant that are sometimes confused with
the true crack and discontinuities
• The first includes indications caused by poor washing and the
other one may be created where parts press fit to each other.
• If a wheel press fit onto a shaft, penetrant will show an
indication at the fit line
• But these types of indications are easy to identify since they
are regular in form and shape

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SAFETY PRECAUTIONS IN LPI

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 TYPICAL APPLICATIONS OF LIQUID
PENETRANT INSPECTION
1. Aerospace: Typical Components that are checked by this
method include Turbine, rotor disc, blades, aircraft wheels,
Casting, forged parts and welded assemblies
2. Automobiles: Many automotive parts particularly aluminium
castings and forging including pistons and cylinder heads are
subjected to this form of quality checks before assembly
3. Railways: LPI to detect fatigue cracking is also used for the
regular in service examination of the bogie frames of railway
locomotive and the rolling stock
4. Tool and dies: field drilling rays, drill pipes, castings and
drilling equipment's inspected by this methods
5.Inspection on reactors and tank: Tanks, vessels, reactors,
piping, dyers in the chemical, petrochemical industries.
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