A Basic Study on the Defect Detectability of Austenitic Stainless Steel Weldments using Ultrasonic Testing

This paper presents the ultrasonic characteristics of weldment and detectability of defects of weldment in Austenitic Stainless Steel Type 304 that is composed of mostly coolant piping system in nuclear power plants. The results of this experiment show as follows: 1. When the ultrasonic beam detects the defects on the side of base metal and on the opposite side of weldment, the indications which was detected on the screen show different amplitude and different metal path each. 2. The ultrasonically estimated notch depth is generally oversized than actual notch depth. 3. It is easy for the false indication to show up on the screen because of columnar structure of weldment in austenitic stainless steel. 4. The higher frequencies of transducer have more difficulties to detect the defects of the opposite side of weldment because of ultrasonic attenuation in weldment and the longitudinal transmitter-receiver transducer is the most effective in detecting the opposite side defects of weldment