NDE customers are often frustrated by the one-track mind set found all too often in NDE organizations which have experience in only one or two techniques and little interest in others. The customer is often left wondering if the technique being pushed is actually the best choice for the task at hand. The term “A solution looking for a problem” is all too common in the world of nondestructive testing.

At the Texas Research Institute our NDE Division employs a very diverse group of professionals with unique skills and experience. Our people span the entire realm of educational backgrounds including technicians, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees. Together, our staff has over 100 years of expertise in nondestructive technologies and is knowledgeable in virtually every field of NDT.

We have the ability to bring together groups of experts to tackle difficult structural problems. In 2004, we received the Nasa Engineering and Safety Center Group Achievement Award for our work in coordinating the Flowliner Independent Technical Assessment Team.

When a customer wants answers, we consider all the angles to their problem before we make a recommendation on an inspection technique!

TRI/Austin and the NDE team has significant hands-on experience in these disciplines:

Electromagnetic Techniques

• Magnetic Flux Leakage
• Magnetic Particle Inspection
• Magnetic Barkhausen Noise
• Conventional Eddy Current
• Remote Field Eddy Current

Ultrasonic Techniques

• Lamb & guided waves
• Shear wave ultrasonics
• Longitudinal wave UT

Sizing methods

• time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD)
• db drop methods
• amplitude comparison

Acoustic Emission

• Polymer composites
• Metals

Infrared Testing

• Thermal Wave Imaging
• Thermography

Penetrant Testing

• Liquid Penetrants
• Fluorescent Penetrants
• Visible Penetrants

Visual Testing

• Borescopes
• Fiberscopes

Other NDE Experience

• In-line pipeline inspection tools (“pigs”)
• Software development for simulation and data acquisition, analysis, and visualization
• Developing written procedures for performing nondestructive testing

TRI/Austin’s NDT staff has also been involved with the following methods during collaborative efforts with corporate, non-profit, Government, and educational partners:

Radiography

• Neutron
• X-ray
• Gamma ray
• Tangential
• Through Wall
• Digital & Filmless Imaging
• Solid State Detectors
• Scintillator & Phosphor Screens
• Real Time Radiography

Ultrasonics

• Laser
• EMATs

Electromagnetic Methods

• Pulsed Eddy Current
• Low Frequency & Deep Penetrating EC
• Microwave and Millimeter-wave Inspection

Shearography