Liquid Penetrant Testing

Introduction to Liquid Penetrant
Testing
Dr. N.K.Singh
Unit-II
Die penetrate test (liquid penetrate inspection),
Principle, scope. Equipment & techniques, Tests
stations, Advantages, types of penetrants and
developers, Zyglo test, Illustrative examples and
interpretation of defects.
Magnetic particle Inspection – scope and working

principle, Ferro Magnetic and Non-ferromagnetic
materials, equipment & testing. Advantages,
limitations Interpretation of results, DC & AC
magnetization, Skin Effect, use of dye & wet
powders for magna glow testing, different methods
to generate magnetic fields, Applications.
Liquid Penetrant
Testing
• Liquid penetrant inspection

is one of the oldest and most
widely used non destructive
testing methods. It is also
called as dye penetrant
inspection.
• Penetrant testing can be applied to most of
materials
including metallic and non metallic objects
• Metallic materials include aluminum,
magnesium, titanium, cast iron,
stainless steel, powdered metal products, copper,
brass, bronze, etc.
• Non metallic materials include ceramics, plastic,
molded
rubber, composites, glass, etc.
• Penetrant testing can’t be applied on a porous
surface
Penetrants
• The penetrants are

mixtures of organic
solvents, which are
characterized their
ability to wet
materials, spread
rapidly and
penetrate into
minute.
Developer
• Developer is good absorbent

material capable of drawing
traces trapped penetrants
from the discontinues back
into surfaces. It also provide
a light background to
increase contrast when visual
penetrant is used
Principles
• Clean & dry test object

• Apply penetrant and let
it penetrate
• Remove excess
penetrant
• Apply developer
• Evaluate indications
• Post clean test object
Types of Penetrants
• Basically Penetrants are classified as Based on

• 1. Physical Properties
• i) Fluorescent Penetrants
• ii) Visual penetrants
• i) Fluorescent penetrants are generally green in colour
and they contain dye that glow brightly when exposed
to UV lights
• ii) Visual penetrants are usually red in colour that
provide high contrast against the white developer
background
Based on removal technique
• i) Solvent removable
• Ii)Water washable
• Iii)Post emulsifiable
• i) Solvent Removable
• In this method , Penetrants are removed by
wiping with a cloth dampened with solvent
Water Washable / WW
• Have a built in
emulsifier, easily
removed by water rinse
• Typical rinse
• procedure are (refer to
manual):
• Pressure < 40 psi
• Temperature 10o - 38o C
• Angle 45o - 75o
Post Emulsifiable / PE
• Not contain emulsifying

agent, not
soluble in water
• Emulsifier applied to remove
excess penetrant by
dipping, spraying, or flowing
• Emulsifier dwell time is 1 - 4
minutes
• Penetrant – emulsifier
mixture
removed by iws ater rinse
• There are 2 types of
emulsifier,
lipophilic and hydrophilic
Lipophilic Emulsifier
• Mechanism of lipophilic emulsification is by diffusion
• Both molecules of emulsifier and penetrant
penetrate each other to form a washable mixture
• Rate of diffusion increases as concentration and
temperature raised
Hydrophilic Emulsifier
• Is a water based solution, mixture of chemical
called surfactant
• Works based on principle of peeling the penetrant
• Need pre-rinsing prior to emulsifier application to
help remove 60 –80 % penetrant and provide an
even surface
• Applied by immersion or spraying
Properties of Good penetrant
• Capillarity It is the ability of a liquid to flow in

narrow spaces without the assistance of
external forces. This property helps the
penetrant to fill a void.
Contact Angle
• Angle formed by the solid-liquid interface and
liquid – vapour interface measured from the
side of a liquid is called contact angle.
• Mostly the liquid penetrant has contact angle
of 0deg
Viscosity
• Viscosity is the internal resistance of a liquid
to flow. The penetrants with less viscosity fill
the cracks in time
Surface Tension
• Surface tension is nothing but wetting

capability of a liquid. Penetrant should have
good wetting capability to spread over the
surface.
Cohesiveness and Adhesiveness
• The attractive force between like molecules

and unlike molecules called cohesiveness and
Adhesive forces respectively.
Specific Gravity
• Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a

liquid to the density of the standard liquid.
Penetrant have Sp Gravity less than one
7.Non-Flammable
8.Volatility
Tendency of a substance to evaporate at
normal temperature is called volatility
9. Removability

Liquid Penetrant Testing

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Liquid Penetrant Testing

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Introduction to Liquid Penetrant

Magnetic particle Inspection – scope and working

• Liquid penetrant inspection

• The penetrants are

• Developer is good absorbent

• Clean & dry test object

• Basically Penetrants are classified as Based on

• Not contain emulsifying

• Capillarity It is the ability of a liquid to flow in

• Surface tension is nothing but wetting

• The attractive force between like molecules

• Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a

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