Development of Automatic Ultrasonic Testing Techniques of Low Pressure Turbine Blade of Nuclear Power Plants

As the turbine running duration in nuclear power plants increases, cracks have been found in the pin finger type blade root area. The nondestructive examination for the blade root area has been carried out by manual ultrasonic examination during the overhaul period, but because of necessity to improve the reliability, we developed an automatic ultrasonic examination system and technique. To demonstrate the performance of the developed automatic ultrasonic examination system, low pressure turbine blades in the 2nd and 3rd stages of nuclear power plants were examined using the developed system. Its applicability nuclear power plant turbine roots of various types was also confirmed