The Answer Is The Society is not responsible for any statements made or opinion expressed herein. Data and information developed by the authors are for specific informational purposes only and are not intended for use without independent, substantiating investigation on the part of potential users. Inspection Trends / Fall 2011 25 By K. Erickson and C. Mankenberg Q: I am a certified Level II liquid penetrant and magnetic particle NDE inspector. Many times, I am sent out to perform these examinations on stainless steel and carbon steel welds. Although I am not a CWI, the welds oftentimes have surface indications such as undercut and porosity that are not corrected. I thought that all welds require some form of visual inspection prior to any NDE being performed? A: I cannot speak for every project; however, if nondestructive examinations are required, the majority of governing standards used today would also require visual inspections to be performed and accepted by a certified individual to a determined acceptance criteria prior to other NDE. You can always inquire if the visual inspections have been completed, accepted, and documented prior to performing your examinations. In today’s industries and variety of applications, it is not uncommon to have separate inspectors for both visual testing and other NDE purposes. Many welding and fabrication shops will contract out the nondestructive examinations as opposed to having and maintaining this program in-house. Also for consideration may be the simple fact that whoever is responsible for performing the visual inspection(s) is either not performing this task or is not competent and/or certified to be inspecting welds. In this case, you should bring this to the attention of your immediate supervisor or manager for investigation and resolution. NDE acceptance criteria may and will differ from visual acceptance criteria, so it is important to establish and acknowledge what it is you are signing for in Inspection Trends encourages question and answer submissions. Please mail to the editor (mjohnsen@aws.org). KENNETH ERICKSON is manager of quality at National Inspection & Consultants, Inc., Ft. Myers, Fla. He is an AWS Senior Certified Welding Inspector, an ASNT National NDT Level III Inspector in four methods, and provides expert witness review and analysis for legal considerations. CLIFFORD (KIP) MANKENBERG is a construction supervisor for Shell International Exploration & Production, Houston, Tex. He is an AWS Senior Certified Welding Inspector and an ASNT National Your Eye Inside™ Made in USA Hawkeye® Borescopes quickly identify the quality and integrity of any weld, even in long tubes or complex parts! In combination with our Luxxor® Video Systems, you can also capture, document, and e-mail inspection images. Our video systems are compatible with any Hawkeye Borescope, and most other borescopes as well. Defects in medical arterial stent as seen with a Hawkeye Pro Slim 12” gradientlens.com 800.536.0790 NDT Level III Inspector in five methods. Weld in 3/4” stainless steel tube using a Hawkeye Pro Hardy 7” Welded and drawn tube viewed with a Hawkeye Pro Slim 7” For info go to www.aws.org/ad-index — continued on page 32
Inspection Trends - October 2011 - Fall
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