Heavy Wall Vessel Inspection

CHALLENGE

Petrochemical Reactor Pressure vessel – Provide full vessel construction weld inspection during plant shutdown turnaround and against limited timescales. To include recorded Ultrasonic data against the applied standards for all circumferential and long seam welds, including the condition of internal cladding in the weld region.

SOLUTION

Constructional welds were fully inspected using a targeted approach. Integrity NDT Engineering provided:

• Pre-inspection weld and surface preparation – Integrity NDT surface prep technicians prepared all surfaces to a polished 120grit finish, weld reinforcement capping was removed by grinding prior to final polishing.
• Surface inspection by Magnetic particle inspection (test sensitivity is greatly improved by the quality of pre-test preparation and polishing).
• Time of Flight Diffraction (TOFD) and Phased Array Ultrasonic inspection (PAUT) of construction welds using Integrity NDT ‘I-Scan’ magnetic wheeled semi-auto scanners, to carry the require probe arrays set-ups.
• Field Metallurgical Replication (FMR) was included for the investigation of both vessel and weld microstructural condition.
• TOFD and PAUT inspection solution provided a successful outcome regarding results and finding and within given timescales.
• Vessel internal Cladding condition adjacent to the weld was also assessed by TOFD, and all cladding defects and disbond were reported.