The American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Inc. or ASNT is a technical society for nondestructive testing (NDT) professionals. ASNT evolved from The American Industrial Radium and X-ray Society which was founded in 1941. [1] Its headquarters is located in Columbus, Ohio, and there are 70 local sections in the United States and 14 local sections in other countries.
ASNT is a nonprofit organization, which is governed by the Board of Directors and the national officers. [2] There are four councils within ASNT:
ASNT publishes and maintains an important standard, SNT-TC-1A, which, with the addition of Codes of Practice ANSI/ASNT CP-189 and ANSI/ASNT CP-105, covers all aspects of qualification and certification of NDT personnel. SNT-TC-1A specifies an employer based certification scheme for ASNT NDT Level I and ASNT NDT Level II Certification Program personnel, which is extensively used worldwide, in countries not enforcing ISO 9712 such as the European Union or Canada. The ASNT Central Certification Program (ACCP) is a fully accredited certification scheme that specifically complies with the ISO 9712 Standard.
ASNT manages a central certification scheme for ASNT NDT Level III professionals.
The Conference Department of ASNT regularly organizes two (ASNT Research Symposium, and ASNT Annual Conference) major scientific and technical conferences around March and October each year.
ASNT publishes the journals Materials Evaluation (ME), Research in Nondestructive Evaluation (RNDE), and The NDT Technician (TNT) and multiple books on NDT.
ASNT awards annually individuals with significant contributions to the field of NDT, [3] including:
Conformance testing — an element of conformity assessment, and also known as compliance testing, or type testing — is testing or other activities that determine whether a process, product, or service complies with the requirements of a specification, technical standard, contract, or regulation. Testing is often either logical testing or physical testing. The test procedures may involve other criteria from mathematical testing or chemical testing. Beyond simple conformance, other requirements for efficiency, interoperability, or compliance may apply. Conformance testing may be undertaken by the producer of the product or service being assessed, by a user, or by an accredited independent organization, which can sometimes be the author of the standard being used. When testing is accompanied by certification, the products or services may then be advertised as being certified in compliance with the referred technical standard. Manufacturers and suppliers of products and services rely on such certification including listing on the certification body's website, to assure quality to the end user and that competing suppliers are on the same level.
Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), nondestructive inspection (NDI), and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) are also commonly used to describe this technology. Because NDT does not permanently alter the article being inspected, it is a highly valuable technique that can save both money and time in product evaluation, troubleshooting, and research. The six most frequently used NDT methods are eddy-current, magnetic-particle, liquid penetrant, radiographic, ultrasonic, and visual testing. NDT is commonly used in forensic engineering, mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, systems engineering, aeronautical engineering, medicine, and art. Innovations in the field of nondestructive testing have had a profound impact on medical imaging, including on echocardiography, medical ultrasonography, and digital radiography.
The International Organization of Legal Metrology, is an intergovernmental organisation that was created in 1955 to promote the global harmonisation of the legal metrology procedures that underpin and facilitate international trade.
Ultrasonic testing (UT) is a family of non-destructive testing techniques based on the propagation of ultrasonic waves in the object or material tested. In most common UT applications, very short ultrasonic pulse waves with centre frequencies ranging from 0.1-15 MHz and occasionally up to 50 MHz, are transmitted into materials to detect internal flaws or to characterize materials. A common example is ultrasonic thickness measurement, which tests the thickness of the test object, for example, to monitor pipework corrosion and erosion. Ultrasonic testing is extensively used to detect flaws in welds.
Welder certification, is a process which examines and documents a welder's capability to create welds of acceptable quality following a well defined welding procedure.
Product certification or product qualification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests, and meets qualification criteria stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications.
ISO/IEC 17025General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories is the main standard used by testing and calibration laboratories. In most countries, ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for which most labs must hold accreditation in order to be deemed technically competent. In many cases, suppliers and regulatory authorities will not accept test or calibration results from a lab that is not accredited. Originally known as ISO/IEC Guide 25, ISO/IEC 17025 was initially issued by ISO/IEC in 1999. There are many commonalities with the ISO 9000 standard, but ISO/IEC 17025 is more specific in requirements for competence and applies directly to those organizations that produce testing and calibration results and is based on more technical principles. Laboratories use ISO/IEC 17025 to implement a quality system aimed at improving their ability to consistently produce valid results. Material in the standard also forms the basis for accreditation from an accreditation body.
Phased array ultrasonics (PA) is an advanced method of ultrasonic testing that has applications in medical imaging and industrial nondestructive testing. Common applications are to noninvasively examine the heart or to find flaws in manufactured materials such as welds. Single-element probes, known technically as monolithic probes, emit a beam in a fixed direction. To test or interrogate a large volume of material, a conventional probe must be physically scanned to sweep the beam through the area of interest. In contrast, the beam from a phased array probe can be focused and swept electronically without moving the probe. The beam is controllable because a phased array probe is made up of multiple small elements, each of which can be pulsed individually at a computer-calculated timing. The term phased refers to the timing, and the term array refers to the multiple elements. Phased array ultrasonic testing is based on principles of wave physics, which also have applications in fields such as optics and electromagnetic antennae.
Time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) method of ultrasonic testing is a sensitive and accurate method for the nondestructive testing of welds for defects. TOFD originated from tip diffraction techniques which were first published by Silk and Liddington in 1975 which paved the way for TOFD. Later works on this technique are given in a number of sources which include Harumi et al. (1989), Avioli et al. (1991), and Bray and Stanley (1997).
The Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST) is a non-profit, technical society where professionals who impact controlled environments connect, gain knowledge, receive advice, and work together to create industry best practices. The organization uniquely serves environmental test engineers, qualification engineers, cleanroom professionals, those who work in product testing and evaluation, and others who work across a variety of industries, including: acoustics, aerospace, automotive, biotechnology/bioscience, climatics, cleanroom operations/design/equipment/certification, dynamics, filtration, food processing, HVAC design, medical devices, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical, semiconductors/microelectronics, and shock/vibration. Information on ISO 14644 and ISO 14698 standards can be found through this organization.
The Nordic Institute of Dental Materials AS (NIOM AS) is a Nordic Cooperative Body for dental biomaterials. The Institute’s activities in research, materials testing, standardisation and research-based consulting are directed towards dental health services and health authorities in the Nordic countries. The Institute is owned jointly by NORCE and the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services. Activities are financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic ministries for health services. Materials testing and consulting services also generate income. As a joint Nordic resource center, NIOM collaborates with dental schools and research institutions and provides services to government health authorities, dental professionals, and the public in the Nordic countries in the field of dental biomaterials.
Shearography or Speckle pattern shearing interferometry is a measuring and testing method similar to holographic interferometry. It uses coherent light or coherent soundwaves to provide information about the quality of different materials in nondestructive testing, strain measurement, and vibration analysis. Shearography is extensively used in production and development in aerospace, wind rotor blades, automotive, and materials research areas. Advantages of shearography are the large area testing capabilities, non-contact properties, its relative insensitivity to environmental disturbances, and its good performance on honeycomb materials, which is a big challenge for traditional nondestructive testing methods.
The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing or BINDT is a professional body for engineers and other technical professionals involved in non-destructive testing and condition monitoring in the United Kingdom. The institute was founded in 1976, by amalgamation of the Society of Non-Destructive Examination (SONDE) and the NDT Society of Great Britain (NDTS), which were both founded in 1954.
Vidisco is an Israeli based developer and manufacturer of portable digital X-ray inspection systems.
IEC 62443 is a series of standards that address cybersecurity for operational technology in automation and control systems. The series is divided into different sections and describes both technical and process-related aspects of automation and control systems cybersecurity. The series is also known as ISA/IEC 62443 in recognition of the fact that much of the initial development was done by the ISA99 committee of the International Society for Automation.
DIN EN ISO 9712:2012 is a certification issued by the German institute for standardization. It certifies personnel working in Non-destructive testing. This standard evaluates and documents the competence of personnel whose tasks require knowledge of non-destructive tests. The certification process is performed by authorized independent certification bodies, such as Sector Cert, DQS, TÜV, DEKRA etc. They can be applied at the German accreditation body.
ASME B5 refers to a technical committee of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the standard they maintain which deals with machine tools.
Robert Charles McMaster, a pioneer in nondestructive testing, was Regents Professor Emeritus of Welding Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Ohio State University (OSU). He has more than 300 publications and 19 patents. He was awarded with the ASNT Gold Medal in 1977.
Nondestructive Evaluation 4.0(NDE 4.0) has been defined by Vrana et al. as "the concept of cyber-physical non-destructive evaluation arising from Industry 4.0 digital technologies, physical inspection methods, and business models. It seeks to enhance inspection performance, integrity engineering and decision making for safety, sustainability, and quality assurance, as well as provide timely and relevant data to improve design, production, and maintenance characteristics."
Lalita Udpa is University Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University. She was educated in India and the US, and focuses her research on nondestructive testing, including the inspection of aircraft and pipelines.