Blinding Results Puts PECA HR Probe in the Spotlight

A quick blind test was recently performed on a six-inch outer diameter (OD) carbon steel reference pipe. The pipe featured machined flat-bottomed holes (FBH) under a 20-millimeter plastic sleeve. At the time of the surprise blind test, our team only had the PECA HR probe readily available with the Eddyfi Lyft® system. Under normal circumstances, a screening probe would be used for fast coverage of the area followed by a higher resolution scan of any identified areas of interest for more accurate sizing. In this context, the pipe was scanned in a single pass with the HR probe (still approximately twice as fast as the client's current equipment).

Immediately following the scan, six indications were reported with the extreme ones being faint but still detected. For those that knew what the plastic sleeve was hiding, the two weak signals at the beginning and end of the scan appeared to be false calls. After all, the pipe had only four defects, so it was clear that something was wrong here. After some discussions and, well, mixed feelings from the blind test organizers, the plastic sheeting was removed. However, immediately after removing the plastic sleeve, the mystery was solved: there were no false calls, and the two additional indications were actually very small threaded holes made to transport the test pipe! Pretty impressive if we may say so ourselves.

When looking for a complete solution dedicated to detecting even the smallest defects and providing the best estimate of remaining wall thickness over surface-forming scabs and corrosion scabs, look no further than the Eddyfi PECA HR probe. See it in action in the video below.

Put our advanced NDT solutions to the test! Contact us today to learn how we can help optimize your inspection and data collection requirements.