Design and development of a test panel for fluorescent dye penetrant

In Dye Penetrant Testing (DPT) a test panel is used to daily check the efficiency of the dye penetrant system before proceeding to inspection of parts. The test panel usually used consists of a stainless steel plate coated with a ductile metal such as chrome. Controlled artificial cracks are created on the coated side by applying appropriate indentations on the steel side. Existing test panels in the marketplace suffer limitations of not being compliant with the NDT specifications in terms of size and shape of the cracks, and the difficulty to wash out the dye after several usages. NDT Consultants is looking into developing an innovative procedure to produce a more sophisticated test device. Such a device will improve the capability of DPT in detecting flaws in parts, leading to an increased materials safety.