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Russell
NDE Systems Inc.
A New
Code of Practice for Remote Field Testing (RFT)
“E2096-00
Standard Practice for In Situ Examination of Ferromagnetic Heat-Exchanger
Tubes Using Remote Field Testing”
As
world leaders in RFT (Remote Field Testing), Russell NDE Systems spearheaded the
initiative to create codes of practice that are helping to improve the quality
of RFT services industry-wide. A
new ASTM standard practice for RFT—for which Russell NDE Systems were primary
authors—is now available. Watch
for some positive changes in the RFT industry as the new standard comes into
general use.
The
new standard can be purchased
in electronic or hard copy form from the online store at www.astm.org,
price US$30 ($33 for shipping outside North America).
Background
RFT
is an electromagnetic method used to examine tubes such as those commonly found
in boilers and heat exchangers. Use
of RFT has been expanding during the last decade, helping to improve efficiency
in heavy industries such as power, petrochemical, and oil and gas. In this
competitive climate, companies seeking RFT services face an increasingly
difficult task finding and evaluating vendors. Until now there has been a
potential for confusion due to the lack of codes of practice. A single vendor
carrying out poor quality work can affect the reputation of a technology across
the continent, no matter how much good work is being done elsewhere. A
recognised standard practice is essential.
A
New Standard Practice for RFT
Russell
NDE Systems is proud to have started and led the initiative to create a standard
practice for RFT. The standard was developed through ASTM
(American Society for Testing and Materials), one of the world’s
best known forums for the development of standards.
The
standard practice is entitled In Situ
Examination of Ferromagnetic Heat Exchanger Tubes Using Remote Field Testing.
The main features are:
·
The standard establishes
RFT as a technology distinct from eddy current, with its own terminology, data
display, instrumentation, and personnel qualifications.
·
The standard recognizes
the factors that can cause inaccuracy in RFT—such as varying material
properties in carbon steel tubes—and gives compensating methods.
·
The standard describes a
special reference tube (see figure below).
Simplified view of the RFT system reference
standard
Figure:
On
each job, use the “system reference standard” to demonstrate that your
system is adequately sensitive to flaws at examination settings and pull speed.
Clients may opt to examine only large-volume flaws, which may be faster
and cheaper. See the standard for
details.
How
the standard was developed
The
major producers, consumers, researchers, and consultants in North American RFT
were first brought together in the same room at an October 1998 symposium in
Nashville. Sponsors were Russell
NDE Systems (organizers), ASNT and EPRI. An RFT
industry group was formed to create codes of practice and personnel
qualification for RFT. The first task we decided on was to make a standard
practice through ASTM, which we hope will
lead to other guidelines and practices under ASNT,
CSNDT (The Canadian Society for Nondestructive
Testing), ASME (the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers), and ISO
(International Organisation for Standardization).
In
early 1999, the draft standard practice was authored at Russell NDE Systems and
was sent out to RFT group members for comment.
Over the course of 1999, the draft was simplified and improved through
the hard work and commitment of the RFT group members. Those of us who worked
through the standard line by line in the discussion meetings learned that an
excruciating attention to detail is often rewarded by a clearer and more useful
standard. The standard was passed
in June 2000 and became available at the end of that summer.
EPRI
invested time and money into the creation of a test bundle that was circulated
to several companies in Canada and the USA.
The bundle was used to evaluate the current state of the art in RFT, and
had a considerable effect on the accuracy and credibility of our work.
Thanks and credit are
due to the members of the RFT users group for the tremendous commitment and
effort they devoted to the job of creating the new standard practice in near
record time. Thanks also to ASTM
for their professionalism and efficient response to this industrial initiative.
Russell
NDE Systems’s Involvement with ASNT codes
Russell
NDE Systems also maintains an active involvement in the ASNT Electromagnetic Committee,
which meets twice-yearly, at the ASNT Spring and Fall conferences, to develop
codes of personnel qualification in electromagnetic methods of NDT.
Would
you like to be involved in RFT standards development?
A standard practice
needs constant attention to keep it up to date, so please feel free to contact
the authors with your comments on the standard practice.
Or get involved with ASTM’s Subcommittee
E07.07 on Nondestructive Testing, Electromagnetic Method.
At the Russell NDE
Systems head office in Edmonton, contact David
Mackintosh or Jim Yukes,
780-468-6800. At the EPRI NDE
Center, contact Larry Cagle, Project
Manager and RFT Group Chairman, tel. 704-547-6171.
Why
get involved in the development of standards?
·
Corporate involvement in
standards development is becoming less and less of a "volunteer
option." Industrial standards
have become an essential requirement for quality, for marketing, and for giving
direction to technological developments.
·
An impartial forum such
as that provided at ASTM allows objective debate about a service without the
immediate pressure of commercial overtones.
·
The standards development
process encourages sharing of methods that improve quality, so the customer
benefits.
·
The standards development
process encourages involvement from companies who are proud of their product or
service. Who else would you want
involved?
·
A standard helps set a
reasonable level of quality and gives customers realistic expectations.
In sales talks and on job sites, less time is spent debating the issues
and more time getting down to well-defined tasks.
·
Involvement in standards
development is a good way for a company to let people see that they are at the
forefront of a technology.
Selected References on RFT and
Standards Development
·
“Remote Field
Practitioners Meet to Discuss Standards,” Materials Evaluation, Vol. 57, No. 5, May 1999, p. 498.
·
Schmidt,
T.R., "History of the Remote-Field Eddy Current Inspection Technique,"
Materials Evaluation, Vol. 47, No. 1, January 1989, pp 14 - 22.
·
David D. Mackintosh,
David L. Atherton, Thomas R. Schmidt, and David E. Russell, “Remote Field Eddy
Current for Examination of Ferromagnetic Tubes,” Materials
Evaluation, Vol. 54, No. 6, June 1996, pp. 652 - 657.
·
Siewert. Tom, “The
International Standards System and NDT,” Materials Evaluation, Vol. 57, No. 12, December 1999, pp. 1225 -
1230.
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