An assessment of detectabilities for various weld defects, when using radiography and ultrasonic manual testing

Radiography and Ultrasonic Manual Testing are used as non-destructive testing for detecting defects in the welds. They show different characteristics in their detectability, dependent on the shape of defects. Several shapes of weld defects were experimented to study their detectability, and the following result obtained. (1) For flat defects with some thickness, no different detectability was found between Radiography and Ultrasonic Manual Testing. (2) For flat and serial defects with very thin thickness located at inclined position, in some case, detectability of Radiography was insufficient. (3) For spherical defects, in some case, detectability of Ultrasonic Manual Testing was insufficient. Accordingly, both Radiography and Ultrasonic Manual Testing will be required on the same welded zone for specific accurate inspection of welds. (author)