Non- Destructive Testing

Ultra-Sonic Thickness Testing: This method of testing is to determine the thickness of steel and aluminium hulls, topsides and decks. This is typically taken on a grid system based upon the length, breadth and depth of the vessel. An assessment is then made to decide if the thickness of the material falls within the accepted criteria for wastage (corossion of the material) and if remedial works are required going forward.

Dye Penetrant Testing: This method is used to identify surface-breaking defects in solid, non-porous materials. It involves the use of specially formulated dyes to reveal flaws that could affect a component’s safety or performance. In the marine industry it has many applications including:

The inspection of welds for porosity or cracking.

Inspection of machinery components, propellers and stern gear for defects that may affect operation or lead to failure.

Inspection of GRP hulls, decks and components for damage or to ascertain the extent of existing damage.

This is a low cost and highly efficient means of detecting faults, cracks and defects.

Thermal Imaging: Thermal imaging techniques can be very useful in the area of marine NDT:

Identifying areas of cored hulls that may be damaged and have water ingress. This is particularly important in the area of outdrive transoms where the core material may be compromised. This will show up darker on the camera.

When examining engines in use, thermal imaging can identify areas where there may be excessive heat indicating faults to the system. Examples would include heat exchangers, turbo's, cooling systems and exhaust elbows.

Acoustic & Vibration Testing: Acoustic and vibration testing comes in three separate areas:

Dry Docking: This area tests a vessels acoustic and vibration characteristics before and after a dry docking in order to assess whether or not the changes during dry docking has altered the vessel characteristics.

Health & Safety: To assess if the acoustic & Vibration Levels meet the regulations for safe employment. This can be very useful to commercial clients with regards to mitigating responsibility to employees for health issues including hearing loss and vibration related issues that my relate to time away from work or a claim against the employer.

Testing of Engineering Components: Vibration testers can be used directly on to machinery components in order to measure acceleration, displacement (quantifying the amount of movement in a given component) and efficiency.