Mandate
- Development of advanced non-destructive evaluation methodologies for detection and characterisation of defects, microstructure, deformation, fracture and health monitoring of structures and components of FBR and associated fuel cycle programme
Achievements
- First of its kind under sodium ultrasonic 3D imaging developed for complex geometry as part of the IA project with CEA, Cadarache.
- Inspection procedure developed for Dissimilar Metal Weld Joint between 10Cr Steel and Alloy 617M Welded Rotor for Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) Thermal Power Plants Project (DAE group achievement award for 2019).
- Ultrasonic inspection procedure developed for non-destructive inspection of D9 clad tubes to SS316LN plug welds made by magnetic pulse welding.
- In-house development of multi-modal plane wave imaging based phased array ultrasonic inspection methodology for imaging of planar defects
- Development of non-contact ultrasonic guided wave-based methodology for inspection of steam generator tubes of PFBR.
- In-house developed remote field eddy current (RFEC) technique for inspection of ferromagnetic steam generator tubes of PFBR has been successfully deployed for collecting baseline data of 8 steam generators (SG) of PFBR (DAE Group achievement award for 2016).
- Detect of inner side corrosion due to fuel clad chemical interaction (FCCI) in irradiated MOX fuel pins by eddy current testing.
- A first of its kind, high sensitive segmented surface differential eddy current probes developed and deployed for detection of shallow (75μm deep) notches/scratches in calandria tubes of NPCIL.
- Flexible GMR array sensors developed for magnetic flux leakage testing of ferromagnetic components (tubes, wire ropes and plates).
- Acoustic Emission (AE) technique successfully used to identify potential leaky pressure tubes of Madras Atomic Power Station.
- NDE Consultancy provided to other DAE units like NFC, NPCIL and strategic sectors of the country like Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., etc
- In-house developed computed tomography setup
Expertise
- Indigenous development of phased array ultrasonic methodology for the inspection of:
- 800 mm diameter X12Cr turbine rotor shaft forging and
- 270 mm thick narrow gap dissimilar metal (Alloy617/X12Cr) rotor weld joints being used for Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) thermal power plant project.
- Development of an L-mode magnetostrictive transducer and associated methodology for non-contact ultrasonic guided wave-based inspection of steam generator tubes of PFBR.
- Development of ultrasonic guided wave-based methodology for the inspection of Arjun MBT fuel tank for the detection of cracks in thin fillet weld joints.
- Development of glancing angle imaging methodology (GAIM) for identification of protrusion and bowing of the PFBR fuel sub-assembly heads.
- Simulation of under-sodium ultrasonic scanning of PFBR core using underwater ultrasonic studies on 1/10th model of PFBR core for different protrusion scenarios of fuel sub-assemblies.
- Development of theta-Z scanning methodology for under-water ultrasonic imaging of complex specimens.
- Development of a multimodal plane wave imaging (PWI) based phased array ultrasonic inspection methodology for detection and characterization of inter-granular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) type defects in the recirculation line weld joints of TAPS 1&2.
- Qualification of thin walled Nickel tubes used for hydrogen sensor application in PFBR using ultrasonic technique.
- Development of digital image correlation (DIC) technique and an algorithm:
- To map the strain in tensile specimens and to understand the notch effects during tensile deformation and
- To optimize the geometry of the miniaturized specimens for post irradiation examination (PIE) of irradiated clad tube.
- Development of a novel ultrasonic high frequency guided wave(HFGW) based methodology for in-service inspection of shell weld in main vessel core-support structure (MV-CSS) in PFBR.
- Development of a non-contact EMAT based methodology for inspection of thick (tri-junction) welds and dissimilar weld (roof slab) in main vessel of PFBR.
- Micro magnetic studies using magnetic force microscope (MFM) and magnetic barkhausen emission (MBE) techniques to characterize the microstructural changes in duplex stainless steels, austenitic stainless steels and high strength low alloy (HSLA).steels.
- A novel Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based tactile sensor with a potential for imaging discontinuity/crack is developed and used for 3D mapping of surface opening fatigue cracks. /li>
- Development of FBG based sensor for detection of rebar corrosion in concrete structures
- Failure analysis and microstructural characterization using in-situ metallography has been successfully carried out on (i) control valves of Unit#1, KKNPP, (ii) Helium storage tank, MAPS, (iii) weld overlay deposit on steam generator nozzle, PRP and (iv) spent fuel storage tanks, BHAVANI
- Visual inspection and defect characterization using industrial videoscope of various components:
- Bottom shield cooling pipe to identify the leak source in the biological shield cooling system of PFBR.
- Top and Bottom Bearing race, Backup Seal of LRP of PFBR.
- Helium Circulating Tanks of MAPS
- Remote field eddy current technique
- High sensitive eddy current technique
- Development of a unique segmented probe for inspecting irradiated carbide fuel pins
- GMR based magnetic flux leakage and metal magnetic memory techniques
- Evaluation of weld residual stress using XRD, Lcr and MBE techniques
- In-house development of advance processing algorithms for application of Infra-red thermal imaging for various applications including inspection of metallic fuel pin
Infrastructure/Facilities
- Phased array ultrasonic systems (M2M,Omniscan, Gekko)
- Under sodium ultrasonic imaging facility
- Magnetostriction based ultrasonic guide wave transducer and associated setup
- Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT) facility
- Immersion ultrasonic C-Scan imaging facility
- Four channel FBG interrogator
- Industrial videoscope
- High power tone burst ultrasonic pulser-receiver for nonlinear ultrasonic studies
- Laser interferometic vibrometer
- Raman distributed temperature sensor
- High temperature ultrasonic measurement setup
- Low and high frequency Magnetic Barkhausen Emission systems
- Atomic Force Acoustic Microscope and Magnetic Force Microscope with external magnetic field attachment
- Multipurpose eddy current imaging bench for cylindrical components
- Micro hardness testing machine
- In-house developed RFEC instrument and flexible probes for inspection of ferromagnetic steam generator tubes
- In-house developed of pulsed eddy current instrument and probes
- Multi-NDE (EC, RFEC, MFL and IRIS) system for detection of flaws in ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic tubes
- Metal magnetic memory imaging system for early detection of damages and stress in ferromagnetic steels
- Multi-Channel Acoustic emission system
- Ground Penetrating Radar with different frequency Antennae for concrete inspection and other Geophysical survey
- GMR based array sensors for magnetic flux leakage, eddy current and RFEC measurements Ferritescope for measurement of ferrite content
- 450 kV X-ray radiography system
- Dual mini-focal 320 kV radiography system
- Real-time radiography using flat panel
- X-ray computed tomography facility
- Infrared thermal imaging system for defect detection and condition monitoring
- Lock-in thermal imaging system
- Residual stress mapping facility based on X-ray diffraction
- Critically refracted longitudinal wave (Lcr) based stress measurement facility
- Alternating Current Potential Drop (ACPD) system for sizing of cracks
- Conductivity measurement of non-magnetic metals
