The new Echomac® UT End Tester, launched by MAC, will now allow mills to test a tube, all the way to the end, for any flaws, lamination and wall thickness.
The tester consists of two independent, identical test stations designed to inspect up to the first 500mm from each tube end, depending on the application. The tube is fed to one of these test stations where a tracking cone is inserted into the tube end, the tube is spun, and the end is inspected. The end plug cone tracks with the rotating tube and keeps the couplant out of the tube interior to prevent interference with the test signals. The tube is then transferred to the second test station where the other end is scanned. The stations each include Echomac® ultrasonic instrumentation with up to 10 UT elements, housed in a transducer box which contains the water couplant and follows the tube surface, as it is being spun.
Also included are multiple ultrasonic transducers for circumferential shear wave testing in each direction and/or a transducer array as required by the application, one normal beam for wall thickness and lamination testing, and two elements for upstream and two for downstream transverse shear wave testing. MAC recently shipped an End Test system designed to inspect up to 275mm from the end of seamless steel tube with a size range of 38 – 170 mm diameter. This system was customized for this application, but the test area could be longer or shorter, depending on the length of the uninspected end.