Princeton Junction, NJ – February 2008 – MISTRAS Group Inc. announces the delivery of a NDT Automation Ultrasonic Inspection System to a leading university for the inspection of Military gun barrels.
The Industrial grade NDT Automation Billet/Bar Rotator UT Inspection System product line consists of a variety of scanner sizes designed to provide a solution for the inspection of metallic or nonmetallic tubular geometries.

With a high speed, all stainless steel Bar/Billet Rotator, the system is able to hold up to 1,000 pound barrels while providing 100 percent subsurface Ultrasonic inspection of critical Department of Defense components. Other features include longitudinal scanning speed in excess of 25 inches/second for flat plate inspection, enclosed climate controlled data acquisition cabinet and a NDT Automation industry standard AD-IPR 1210 PCI based Ultrasonic Pulsar Receiver and A/D card.

The system uses UTwin, NDT Automation’s 3rd generation full A, B & C-Scan software, to control both the motion and ultrasonic data collection. UTwin is a comprehensive image and analysis platform featuring multi-channels, multi-flaw gate, RF replay, clustering, 3D and many other advanced display and analysis tools.

Professor Fereidoon Delfanian, of South Dakota State University’s (SDSU) Department of Mechanical Engineering, said SDSU has acquired the equipment to allow researchers to do non-destructive testing on parts including large gun barrels.

Initially, SDSU scientists will use ultrasound technology to check for cracks or other signs of wear without destroying the part. In the future, SDSU will have the opportunity to add other nondestructive evaluation equipment which could increase their testing capabilities. Delfanian said the testing will give the U.S. Department of Defense and its contractors a better idea of how long a part lasts and how the given part normally wears.

While the primary focus of SDSU is helping the military contractors carry out their project, in time the university hopes to use the non-destructive testing technologies they have acquired to serve manufacturers in their local region.