Field Inspections
Radiography (RT)

Radiographic Testing (RT) is a form of traditional non-destructive testing (NDT) that is used to inspect the internal structure of assets in the oil & gas, power generation, manufacturing, and aerospace industries.

Radiographic Testing (RT) is an extremely popular non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection technique, thanks to its versatility in detecting a wide range of defects on multiple materials, and its ability to produce a permanent record of each inspection.

Our staff of qualified, certified, professional radiographers operate within strict safety parameters. We produce high-quality radiographs that allow us to utilize our interpretation skills honed through many years of experience to determine if an anomaly is actually a defect, or if it can be accepted per code requirements.

Radiographic Testing (RT) Inspection Applications

MISTRAS conducts RT inspection services in the field for refineries, pipelines, nuclear and fossil plants, and many other industrial clients. We also have advanced radiography capabilities in our in-house labs to inspect newly-manufactured components for the aerospace, automotive, and other manufacturing industries.

RT inspections are sensitive to corrosion, changes in thickness, voids, cracks, and material density changes. MISTRAS inspects for these damages for a wide range of large and small assets, including:

• Piping
• Pipelines
• Castings
• Forgings
• Welds
• Pressure Vessels
• Valves

Pipeline RT Inspection Services

Radiography is a common technique to inspect newly-constructed pipelines to ensure weld quality. MISTRAS provides expert inspection technicians to complete pipeline RT inspections safely and cost-efficiently.

We complete pipeline inspections on small-, medium-, and large-bore pipelines, and can perform assessments on insulated lines to inspect for corrosion under insulation (CUI).

Our pipeline fleet includes fully-contained trucks with portable darkrooms to supply immediate inspection results to our customers, enabling them to take immediate action when necessary.

MISTRAS also offers proprietary, advanced digital radiography (DR) pipeline crawler services for even greater inspection speed and insight.

MISTRAS’ RT Inspection Technology & Capabilities

Radiographic inspections can be performed using either X-Ray or Gamma ray radiation. The choice of radiation sources and their strength depends on a variety of factors, including the size of the component and the material thickness.

Within the broad group of X-Ray and Gamma ray sources, MISTRAS chooses from a variety of cameras with varying radiation strengths.

MISTRAS’ X-Ray capabilities range from 4-MeV units to radiograph extremely large or thick castings and forgings, to portable X-Ray cameras used for field weld applications and thin wall material inspection.

Our Gamma ray sources include very low-level fluoroscopic units to perform real-time corrosion under insulation (CUI) surveys, to Iridium (Ir-192) and Selenium (Se-75) sources used for a variety of weld inspections, to Cobalt (Co 60) inspections for thick component testing.

Radiographic Testing (RT) Inspection Benefits

There are many advantages to radiography, including:

• Inspection capability for many types of material with varying density
• Ability to inspect assembled components
• Minimal surface preparation required
• Determination of crack growth
• Detection of both surface and subsurface defects
• Permanent record of the inspection