With Trueflaw's new generation cracks you can fully rely on the performance of your NDE.

True crack means true reliability

With the equipment we have developed we can create a crack in locations that are hard to reach - even in locations which were unreachable to the previous defect production methods, e.g. steam generator tubes and threaded holes. The crack is grown directly on the specimen without any weld seams or other anomalies that would give a false signal in the examination. In addition, thanks to the exact controllability of the method and validation, characteristics like position and size of the cracks, are exactly known.

Our cracks represent service-induced cracks, and thus the NDE results correspond to the response of service-induced cracks.

Complete correspondence in NDE opens completely new possibilities

By using Trueflaw's true cracks, inspector training and reliability of qualification reaches a completely new level. Verifying the performance of new examination methods is difficult unless real cracks, that give a true response can be used.

Are Trueflaw cracks good value for money?

Test specimens form typically 10-20% of the total cost of the qualifications. At the same time one has to take into consideration what costs can be avoided by using a true crack: expensive re-production of specimens, new examinations and resulting prolonged timetables.

The pricing of our cracks is based on the production time. The cracks are produced by thermal fatigue loading the metal, by heating and cooling the specimen over and over again. In addition to the specified crack size, the production time depends also e.g. on the material. The majority of our cracks can be produced in approximately one to two weeks.

Training

The know-how of the inspector plays a major role in the reliability of the examination. By investing in the training of the inspectors, especially in hand-on examinations with defect-containing specimens, the reliability of the examination can be improved. It is only real defects that show the trainee what kind of a signal should be sought for. A true response is only obtained by using a true crack.

Qualification

The aim of the qualification is that the inspector in a real situation can find and characterize all the cracks in the component under examination. Artificial defects don't give a similar response compared to natural cracks which decreases the reliability of the qualification when using these defect types. In many cases, though, the most important prerequisite of the examinations is reliability. Using real cracks in qualifications ensures that in-service inspections have high reliability.

Method development

Examination methods for finding service-induced defects are continually developed. The performance of new or improved equipment has to be tested in practice and in locations representing real ones. In many cases Trueflaw's real, controllably grown cracks are the only way to be sure of the reliability of the performance of the developed method; their dimensions are known and, e.g., no weld seams that would disturb the examination are left in the specimen.

Unclear indications

Every now and then an indication is found in an in-service examination that doesn't correspond to a response obtained in the qualification. In these cases the indication can not be reliably interpreted. By growing a real crack into a specimen of similar material and geometry, it can be reliably inspected whether or not the grown crack gives a similar response as the one found in the actually inspection. This way the indication can be reliably interpreted and unnecessary expensive repairs are avoided.