Paul Bowden 24 Aug 2009 12:00:00 GMT All the latest news about Sonatest's range of Ultrasonic Testing Equipment http://www.sonatest.com/news/news.html Copyright 2008 Sonatest Limited Corinna Cuciureanu News en Paul Bowden Sonatest are launching the new Sirius range of transducers in June which will meet if not beat the current benchmarks in the transducer market. Competitively priced the Sirius range are robustly and ergonomically designed for high performance and reliability in the field; meeting quality standards such as the EN12668-2 and enable AVG curve recognition. The new colour coded Sirius range includes single angle, single compression and twin compression transducers and have the options of being soft or hard ceramic faced. All are available in a range of sizes and frequencies and are built with PZT elements and constructed with LEMO 00 and Lemo 1 connectors. New strong and durable casing complements this range enabling the end user to carry the transducers onto site or into the application environment for convenience and full protection. Also available is a benchtop stacking system. Pre selected kits for specific applications are also available ie for weld testing. Applications for the Sirius transducers range across the board from weld testing, corrosion detection, pipeline assembly weld seams, small “subject” testing and remaining wall thickness measurement amongst others. 24 Aug 2009 11:29:09 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story9.html Corinna Cuciureanu 341B0E2E-0BF7-48BE-85A6-4C44AEA7D904 Sonatest are about to launch the new Corrosion Wheelprobe, which has been specifically designed for Pipeline Corrosion Mapping applications. Continuing the proven success of Sonatest’s WheelProbe range, this new model is proving to be unrivalled in the field of corrosion mapping in terms of speed and ease of use, in addition to achieving excellent results. Ergonomically designed, the Corrosion Wheel Probe offers smooth handling, good control and comfortable grip positions for scanning around pipes and for easy overhead work. Circumferential and Longitudinal scanning are both completed rapidly and can be performed on pipes with diameters between 3 and 32 inches. Fast and easy configuration for different pipe diameters is adjsutable in the field thanks to the Pipe Diameter Scale on the instrument itself which enables quick adjustments and fine tuning. The Corrosion WheelProbe is not only compatible with NDT Systems and instruments available from the Sonatest Ltd range, such as the Rapidscan Series, but also with a wide range of industry standard instruments, making this instrument one of the most flexible and result-driven pieces of testing equipment that can currently be invested in. From September 2009 this new Pipeline Corrosion Mapping technology can be seen at various shows including Materials Testing 2009 (Blackpool, UK), Offshore Europe 09 (Aberdeen, Scotland), ASNT 2009 (USA), 5th MENDT (UAE) and NDE India. The industry sectors where the Corrosion Wheelprobe™ can be used include Petrochemical, Offshore, Oil and Gas, Aerospace, Composite Manufacturing and Marine. 24 Aug 2009 11:22:07 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story7.html Corinna Cuciureanu 341B0E2E-0BF7-48BE-85A6-4C44AEA7D904 After being launched in late 2008 the new D-Series digital flaw detectors are now penetrating the market and proving to technicians that they are “up” to the job. Very “high up” – to the job! A recent application for the new D-Series unit was to be used in testing guy wire welds/connections on TV Transmission tower, 1000 feet up and is a critical inspection. These particular types of guy connections can experience fatigue cracks, that have led to tower failures in the past. Patrick Rhodes, NDT Consultant, believed the Sonatest D-20 DFD was an ideal Flaw Detector for the following reasons; “The small flat design allowed me to carry the scope in my belt bags (typical bolt bags) while climbing on the tower and the ergonomic design allowed for single handed operation. The user definable buttons were particularly useful in that they saved key strokes whilst testing and hanging from the tower. The picture does not show it, but I was hanging from a harness with my feet dangling. I had to use one hand to steady myself as is evident from the white knuckles on my right hand as I clutched the tower leg.” 04 Apr 2009 10:20:20 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story8.html Corinna Cuciureanu 341B0E2E-0BF7-48BE-85A6-4C44AEA7D904 Sonatest Ltd has invested largely in Research and Development and the results are now revealed! The brand new SiteScan D series is being launched at the World Conference on NDT, Shanghai, China 26th-28th October 2008. Not only has the casing and display had a complete re-design, but also a whole new software system, offering everything a user should need. The Sitescan delivers high performance and advanced features, yet our engineer's experience in user interface design has ensured it is easy and quick to use. The acknowledged ease of use of previous generation Sitescans has been enhanced with the menu navigation scroll-wheel, providing easy access to functions. The menu structure has been designed to guide the user through their task with operation quickly becoming second nature. The Sitescan D-10 uses a broad band amplifier compatible with a wide range of transducers whilst the D-20 model uses several narrow bands for improved performance. The “analogue feel” from the high quality broadband amplifier shows all the detail required to identify defect types such as holes or cracks, and sufficient resolution for identifying small signals. Typical applications are weld inspection, corrosion testing, small castings, forgings and delamination checking. The Sitescan D Series represents a new generation of portable digital flaw detectors. It’s ground breaking ergonomic design has been evolved to make it comfortable for day-long use. Display size has not been sacrificed to achieve compact dimensions giving the Sitescan one of the highest display to size ratios of any field instrument. The new SiteScan D series is a leader in its field, and after thorough market and customer research, Sonatest have developed this product that moves with the times and rises to the challenge of even the most difficult applications. Coupled with a one year warranty, which can be extended to five years with Sonacover and a worldwide service network, the new SiteScan D series is a powerful, flexible and user orientated unit. 24 Oct 2008 12:40:00 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story5.html Corinna Cuciureanu 341B0E2E-0BF7-48BE-85A6-4C44AEA7D904 Leading the way in ultrasonic transducer innovation, the new Wheelprobe™ series has been launched by Sonatest Ltd. Developed in conjunction with leaders in aerospace technology whilst focussing on the increased use of composite materials, these probes enable rapid and intuitive scanning in the testing environment, producing outstanding quantitative data on material integrity. These unique probes feature a wide conformable rubber tyre which is acoustically matched to water, allowing near dry contact, and so producing high quality results without the need for couplant or large quantities of water. The Wheelprobe range includes three models: a Single Element Wheelprobe, a 50mm Array Wheelprobe and a 100mm Array Wheelprobe. Developed to be used in conjunction with the Sonatest Rapidscan Series, these are now compatible with alternative NDT industry standard equipment. Ready to hand….. The 50mm array Wheelprobe™ is ideally suited to hand scanning of large flat or slightly curved parts, covering these areas quickly and efficiently. A central spring loaded roller ensures consistent contact across the wheel, even when scanning narrow parts. The Wheelprobe™ is able to provide high quality, high resolution data due to the incorporated 64 element phased array with 0.8mm resolution and a high resolution positioning encoder. The 100mm tyre has been constructed for very large area coverage and due to it’s size is best suited to flat horizontal components, but is also adaptable to curved parts. The industry sectors where the Wheelprobe™ may be used are broad but include Aerospace, Automotive, Marine and Composite Manfacturing and is adaptable in being used by individual operators or as part of a scanning system. The Wheelprobe™ is ideally suited to advanced material testing, simplifying testing procedures and preparation where there are common requirements for the ultrasonic inspection of composites for porosity sizing, delaminations, foreign body contamination and fibre wrinkling. 10 Sep 2008 15:40:00 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story5.html Corinna Cuciureanu 341B0E2E-0BF7-48BE-85A6-4C44AEA7D904 The Sonacoat P is the new paint thickness gauge from Sonatest Ltd -providing fast, accurate, non-destructive coating thickness measurements on steel and non-ferrous materials. No surface damage, no grinding required. Fast and easy to use - by simply placing the Sonacoat P on the surface to be tested, an accurate thickness reading is shown on the large display screen. This gauge also automatically selects the optimum measuring method (magnetic induction or eddy current), providing highly accurate readings, even for the thinnest of coatings. No calibration is required. Find out more about your bodywork! Ideal for auto dealers, inspections stations, auto paint and body shops the Sonacoat P can also provide the end user with valuable information regarding the coating structure such as paint topcoats or body fillers. When the measured thickness value clearly exceeds the standard paintwork thickness, this would then indicate the use of filler material or repainting. The speed, simplicity and accuracy of the Sonacoat P make this gauge an invaluable tool for a wide range of inspection tasks. 26 Aug 2008 09:55:33 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story1.html Corinna Cuciureanu 341B0E2E-0BF7-48BE-85A6-4C44AEA7D904 The Dryscan 410D A leading instrument in the field of testing high technology materials The Dryscan 410D is the latest special applications digital flaw detector released by Sonatest Ltd. In using the proven method of the Shadow Technique, through transmission, the Dryscan 410D is designed to be the perfect option for the non-destructive testing of high technology materials such as Composites, Hybrids and Honeycomb structures found throughout the Aerospace, Aviation and Marine industries amongst others. For such advanced materials, often combined with complex geometries, the Dryscan 410D concept is simple to apply and is highly reliable for fault detection, requiring only a minimum of operator training. Using the unique transducers means that no coupling medium is required to contact the transducers to the test material, no material surface preparation is required and many of the geometric considerations that are applied to conventional ultrasonic detection methods can be ignored. The Dryscan 410D has a unique, tuneable filter that can be adjusted for the best signal response for the material under test, which allows significantly increased sensitivity, whilst maintaining low noise, enabling the testing of very attenuative materials. Ideally suited to materials that have geometrically complicated patterns other applications for the Dryscan 410D include Friction Materials, Plastic and Rubber Composites, GRP/CFRP in many forms, EB Welding, Root Pass Welds, Ceramics, Tyres (Automotive and Aircraft) Wood laminate and Honeycomb sections in aluminium, stainless steel and paper etc. 26 Aug 2008 09:55:33 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story3.html Corinna Cuciureanu 92226100-545E-4ABA-ADB7-4810BA9D66DB Let the new CT-Gauge from Sonatest be the judge! Making precise wall and coating thickness measurements is fast and easy using the new Sonatest CT-Gage and CT-Gage DL (data-logging) ultrasonic thickness gauges. Not only do both models measure coating and wall thickness quickly and accurately, from only one side, but they automatically measure and eliminate any coating from wall thickness measurements, allowing users to locate the finest corrosion and pitting-without removing the coating. Create and store 64 custom setups for all your common testing applications. Switching into the time based B-Scan view enables a cross section view of the material your inspecting. Enabling the high-speed scan function will give the user 50 readings per second! Five user-selected operating modes are included: Coating On, Coating Off, Thru Coat and Coating Only. All measurements are temperature compensated. Minimum coating thickness is 0.0127mm allowing the gauge to precisely measure thin coatings with it's advanced waveform analysis technique. A large backlit graphic LCD features easy-to-read fonts, graphics and display codes which show all critical settings. CT-Gage features include: auto probe zero, auto probe recognition, auto temperature compensation, and a stand alone coating only mode. The standard pulse-echo and thru-paint echo-echo modes are standard features. The CT-Gauge Data-Logging model adds built-in memory, with an RS-232 output for transferring data to a Printer or PC. Data Files can be user-set for a "grid type" structure (data formatted in rows & columns) or a "sequential" file (all data appears in a single column). In addition, each file can be set to store "data only" or "data plus B-scan" graphic. The CT-Gage DL can store 16,000+ readings, with B-Scan captures and all gauges settings and features, or turn the graphics mode off and store over 210,000 readings! 26 Aug 2008 09:55:33 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story4.html Corinna Cuciureanu 47517260-F335-45CB-8908-D467FD9B050E Welcoming the most challenging of Applications! In response to the increase in demand for advanced non-destructive testing solutions, Sonatest Ltd have created a new centre of excellence, with a dedicated team to support this growing sector and strengthen it’s position within the advanced NDT product market. The development of the new Application Centre for Advanced Products and Projects has taken place in order to provide high levels of technical support to the end user and their specific applications, from consultancy to post sales stage. Highly skilled, specialist engineers have been recruited to focus their time and resources on customers who require advanced Sonatest and their specific applications. With a skill-set covering phased array expertise, mechanical, transducer and electronic design, together with software development the ACAPP team are able to fully investigate and support all advanced application demands, providing bespoke solutions where required. Products that are supported by the ACAPP group include the Sonatest X-32 and other phased array products, the Sonatest NDTS Rapidscan2, Rapidscan-3d and the SFD-100 Systems Flaw Detector. At this level these technologies require significant technical support throughout the sales process; often requiring proof of application suitability, involving testing and reporting, NDT effectiveness and system integration. Bespoke transducer development and instrumentation customization are also supported. Some of this work will be carried out in the new facility of testing laboratories within Sonatest Ltd. Particular areas of expertise include composite inspection and on-line high speed scanning. Additionally the specialists within the ACAPP group have strong proven records within their fields and are able to assist in developing procedures for product approval, integrating systems into end-user’s workflows, training users and working on data analysis. ACAPP Products will feature at Materials Testing 2007, Glasgow 18-20th September, 2007 – Stand 44. Sonatest Ltd believe this investment in advanced product expertise and development will ensure that they continue to offer high standards of support and exceed customer expectations. Sonatest Ltd is part of the Sonatest NDE Group of Companies, the leading independent manufacturer of Ultrasonic Flaw Detectors, X-Ray Equipment, Scanning Systems, Thickness Gauges, Transducers and NDT accessories. Find out more about Sonatest Ltd and our products by visiting www.sonatest.com 26 Aug 2008 09:55:33 GMT http://www.sonatest.com/news/story2.html Corinna Cuciureanu 438DAB1F-1DC2-4553-92F3-6C93A691268B