Keighley Labs Test & Inspection Service Ensures Welds Are Fit ForPurpose Usually regarded as the most economical way of joining two or moremetal components, in terms of fabrication costs and materialsusage, welding technology is central to many engineering andmanufacturing processes, from producing wings and fuselages in theaerospace industry and platforms and pipelines in the energy andpetrochemicals sector, to automotive and rail components, whitegoods and metal furniture. Posted via Industry Today . Are you into it? Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday Since these welded joints are subject to various loads and fatigueduring their service life, possibly giving rise to safety andquality issues, it is vital that rigorous testing and inspectionprocedures are applied, to examine the structure of completed weldsand their conformation to specification, as well as determining theskill levels of the welding operators. West Yorkshire-based Keighley Laboratories offers a comprehensiveweld testing and inspection service, including welding procedureconsultancy and approval, welder qualification tests, on-site weldinvestigation and, through its newly-upgraded Test House, acomplete range of destructive, non-destructive and metallographytesting facilities.
Under the direction of Divisional Technical Services Director,Matthew Mellor, the weld test and inspection team's resources arebroadly divided between the specialist aerospace field, led byPeter Hanson, and general commercial welding, headed up by JeremyDuignan, both of whom are fully qualified metallurgists. Unusually,Matthew, Peter and Technical Director, Keith Blower, are alsoapproved by the Civil Aviation Authority as Weld SpecimenSupervisors, able to witness and verify critical aircraft-relatedwelding on the authority's behalf and invigilate at customer sites. Keighley Labs is UKAS accredited for weldment testing andcertification across a growing list of professional specifications,including relevant commercial BS EN ISO and ASTM standards andaerospace primes like BAE, Rolls Royce, Westland Helicopters,Airbus, Bombardier and the CAA, with the final assessment processnow underway for NADCAP approval. The team is familiar with testing weld coupons only millimetresthick in titanium, aluminium, nickel and cobalt alloys and otherexotic metals for aerospace fabricators, as well as carbon steeland stainless steel test plates several inches thick for commercialwelders and manufacturers. It covers all forms of welded joint,including butt or groove welds, fillets, lap, edge and tee joints,corners and cruciform, both plate-to-plate and tube-to-tube insimilar or dissimilar materials, which are produced using allmanual and automated welding methods, from stick and oxy-acetylenetechniques, to TIG, MIG, MAG and plasma arc, even brazing andsoldering.
Keighley Labs employs a complete array of test and inspectionprocedures to qualify welding procedures, welding operators andwelding processes, by examining completed welds to establish theirquality, integrity and compliance with specifications.Non-destructive testing techniques extend from visual inspection tocheck for surface defects and weld sizes, through to magneticparticle, liquid penetrant and ultrasonic examinations fordetecting surface and near-surface discontinuities invisible to thenaked eye, locating weld leaks and any internal flaws, in additionto meeting specific codes and specifications. Radiographicinspection for determining the internal soundness of welds is alsoprovided on a sub-contract basis. Weld coupons are also examined for soundness, strength andtoughness using a range of mechanical testing equipment in KeighleyLabs' on-site Test House, which includes a dedicated CNC machinefor producing weld test plates from customer-submitted samples.Options here include Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers and Knoop hardnesstesting, for providing information about metallurgical changescaused by welding, weld bending for evaluating the ductility andsoundness of welded joints, Charpy and Izod impact testing formeasuring resistance to mechanical shock, and digital equipment forfatigue life testing. In its newly-enlarged Optical Suite, Keighley Labs offersmetallographic inspection of sections of welded joints, at macrolevels up to 50x magnification and micro examinations up to 1000x,employing powerful stereo microscopes. Metallurgy is used to checkthe extent of the heat affected zone and any weld defects such ascracks, pores, swivels and lack of fusion.
Meticulous surfacepreparation of samples is essential for revealing details of themicrostructure and the suite boasts semi-automated precisioncutting, grinding and polishing equipment. With customers as far afield as South Africa and the Mediterranean,as well as closer to hand amongst the North West AerospaceAlliance, of which it is a member, Keighley Labs enjoys strongdemand for its weld test and inspection services, with a trackrecord of repeat business. "We have a good reputation within the aerospace industry andamongst commercial fabricators and, given the increasing need tocomply with welding procedures and employ skilled weldingoperators, it is an expert service that many customers and theirclients value," says Keighley Labs' Peter Hanson. "Beingindependent, we have no vested interest in any particular weldedjoint, we're just concerned with whether it passes or fails.
If itfails, we can identify precisely why it did so and offer remedialadvice for meeting the required specification." "A good looking joint was often considered a reliableindicator of a high quality weld, but surface appearance alone doesnot guarantee good workmanship, internal integrity and compliancewith welding procedures," he adds. "Nowadays, you needaccess to non-destructive mechanical and metallurgical examinationtechniques to judge whether a weld is fit for purpose and achievesthe necessary acceptance criteria. And that's what we do." Contact Information David Gent David Gent Creative PO Box 30 Rossendale Lancashire BB4 7ER Industry Today was developed by Simply Marcomms (SMPR) Online B2B PR services
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