PCRT has been used by parts-producers to replace Magnetic Particle, FPI, UT, EC and/or Xray inspections. While most folks familiar with Non Destructive Testing (NDT) realize that no 2 methods can give EXACTLY the same inspection result, PCRT can very effectively protect your part stream from ‘defects that cause parts to fail in service’. In fact, many parts-producers have seen field issues dramatically reduced even when applying PCRT Outlier Screening alone, which is not trained to detect any specific defect.
When your legacy inspection method is detecting parts that will fail in service, PCRT can replace these inspections with an objective, automate-able, QUANTITATIVE, fast inspection that generally requires no part prep, uses no chemicals and produces no waste. PCRT systems test against password-protected criteria, and produce a pass/fail result, so inspectors require only minimal training. Results are stored digitally for as long as you need.
If your legacy inspection is detecting parts with cosmetic defects – for example something you can SEE, but will not impact the performance of the part, PCRT will not be able to detect these conditions. PCRT also has a hard time ‘accepting defects in one area of a part while rejecting them in others’. PCRT is a volumetric inspection method. Defects do not have to ‘break the surface’ or ‘be in a particular orientation’ to be detected, as long as they have a volumetric impact on the material strength. When a part is massive, defects must be relatively larger to be detected. This means that defect sizes in POD (Probability of Detection) studies are larger for larger parts. PCRT does not yield a single ‘minimum defect size that can be detected’ like other methods may. ‘Volumetric Inspection’ also means that defects are not one- or two-dimensional . Defects, and the surrounding ‘Material Affected Zone’ (MAZ) that might also be impacted, are 3-dimensional features, and the size in all dimensions is relevant.
Sometimes your inspection method is chosen for you. Vibrant is happy to help you work with your customer to demonstrate how PCRT can supplement or replace your current inspection methods. Both Automotive and Aerospace OEMs have approved PCRT as a NDT inspection method.