In April 1997, members of the ASTM committees were provided the minutes of the meetings held in January. Only those portions of the minutes pertaining to ultrasonic activities are summarized in this report.
This summary is taken from the minutes of the meetings held in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. (USA).
E-07.06.01 Glossary and Editorial
Five documents were identified for the required five year editorial review;
E1454-92
E213-93
E273-93
E664-93
E1315-93
An editorial review of these documents will carried out for form and style (as per ASTM Guidelines) and a report will be submitted to the Subcommittee Chairman.
The task group, formed in January 1996, to review and revise terms in E1316, Section I, relating to "area-amplitude" and "distance -amplitude" will be contacted and asked to proceed with this task. A progress report will be prepared for the June 1997 meeting.
E-07.06.02 Calibration and Reference Blocks
Status of the section's three documents and proposed revisions and modifications to each of these was discussed in turn:
E127: Results of the subcommittee ballot to revise E127 were reviewed. The ballot item covered a) modifying figures 3 and 4 to illustrate more realistic signal forms; b) specifying the straight-line relationship of section 11.8.1 to be a fit of the form y=mx (with a zero y intercept); c) deleting the terms "distance amplitude curve" and ultrasonic noise level from section 3.2 (these are defined in E1316; d) defining the procedure for substituting replacement blocks into existing block sets; and e) clarifying the acceptable front surface block markings. The item received a vote of 52 Affirmative, 2 Negative and 28 Abstentions. The revision will be reworked to specify marking for sound entry surface as opposed to the more ambiguous "front surface"; identify a least squares fit for the straight-line relationship; and permit the use of multiple gain settings in measuring area amplitude response.
E1158: The ballot results on two modifications to E1158 were discussed. The issues with measuring ultrasonic response in blocks with curved entry surfaces remains unclear. the section generally agreed that existing language in E428 currently reference E1158 does not adequately address the concerns with curved entry surface. Tom McConomy will communicate the procedures used at Specialty Metals Corporation to John Slotwinski. The ballot to E1158 will be revised and resubmitted to subcommittee ballot.
E428: The E07.06 ballot to revise E428 received two negatives and three comments. Several issues associated with ultrasonic characterization of the starting stock as well as verification of flat-bottom hole geometry were raised. The revision will be reworked and submitted to ballot.
John Slotwinski is working on a new document describing the measurement procedures for curved entry surface flat-bottom hole reference blocks in conjunction with Jerry Green. Tom McConomy agreed to provide additional input and participate in this task group.
E-07.06.03 Contact Testing
Status and action items for the section's four published documents were reviewed and are as follows:
E114-95: Practice for Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo Straight-Beam Examination by the Contact Method is current with no action planned.
E587-94: Practice for Ultrasonic Angle-Beam Examination by the Contact Method is current with no action planned.
E797-94: Practice for Measuring Thickness by Manual Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo Contact Method is current with no action planned.
E1315-93: Practice for Ultrasonic Examination of Steel with Convex Cylindrically Curved Entry Surfaces is due for review. Scott Ritzheimer will conduct the editorial review and Mark Toughiry will conduct the technical review. Their recommendations for actions will be presented at the June 1997 meeting.
Comments from the Spring 1996 subcommittee ballot have been included in the "Guide for Detection and Evaluation of Discontinuities by Contact Pulse-Echo, Straight-Beam Ultrasonic Method" and this document is ready for concurrently at the Subcommittee/Main Committee levels.
Mark Toughiry presented a new draft document "Test Method for Circumferential Examination of Seamless Pressure Vessels Using Contact Ultrasonics". A task group was formed with Mark Toughiry, Alan Schuele, Ed Ginzel, Mike Shakinovsky, Mike Ruddy and Ken Beck volunteering to investigate other applications for the document and to write the scope. The task group will report on the status at the June 1997 meeting.
Gene Chemma discussed the possible consolidation of two plate ultrasonic documents in A-1 on Steel, Stainless Steel and Related Alloys - A435 and A578, thus eliminating A435. Gene Chemma, John Patsey and John Ritzheimer will investigate the use of these documents and suggest at the June 1997 meeting what recommendations E-07 should make to A-01.
E-07.06.04 Immersion Testing
The status of all section documents was reported as current at this time.
John Patsey will form a task group to look at revising or developing a replacement for E588 "Practice for Detection of Large Inclusions in Bearing Quality Steel by the Ultrasonic Method". This task group will consist of A01.28 and E07.06 members and users of E588.
The results of a subcommittee ballot on draft #10 of the document "Practice for Ultrasonic Examination of Wrought Products" were 47 affirmative, 7 negative and 76 abstentions. John Fenton discussed the negative votes and comments. He will make appropriate changes and reballot draft #11.
John Fallick of DOD expressed concerns that the ASTM drafts have not been circulated in DOD for the last two subcommittee ballots. This issue will be addressed with Rade Savija, the DOD custodian for MIL-STD-2154. Tom Munson requested that the proposed dual reference cancellation of MIL-STD-2154 be noted in the cover memo for the next ballot.
Tom McConomy of Specialty Metals Corp., will contact manufacturers of EDM notch standards to resolve tolerance discrepancies in Figure 4 (draft #10 of the document "Practice for Ultrasonic Examination of Wrought Products"). This information will be forwarded to John Fenton.
E-07.06.05 Applications
Results of the ballot MC E07 (96-02) Item 15 of E164 "Standard Practice for Ultrasonic Contact Examination of Weldments" were discussed. The document received two negative ballots and four comments. The negative ballots were in reference to having two sets of dimensions on several figures that referenced both metric and US customary versions of the IIW block and are not necessarily equivalent values. A note will be added to each figure title that states that two separate but not dimensionally equivalent blocks exist. Other modifications include; a change to the proposed scale of Figure A1.7, an editorial change to Note A1.1, and a reference to "blocks" in place of "block" on appropriate figure titles. These changes should satisfy all negative votes and comments. This document should be balloted at the subcommittee meeting in Spring 1997.
Documents E213-93 and E273-93 and E664-93 are up for review. John Patsey, Mike Ruddy and Mark Toughiry volunteered to review documents E213 and E273. Jon Buttram will review E664. These individuals will make recommendations concerning these documents at the June 1997 meeting.
Four documents are currently at various levels of development in this section. A first draft of a proposed new "Test Method for the Ultrasonic Determination of Particulate Loading in Aluminum Metal Matrix Composites" was distributed for information, however, the draft is undergoing major technical revisions. On completion, a revised draft version will be sent to Tom Jones and Jon Buttram for comment. Two separate drafts have been developed relating to "Resonance Inspection Sorting Metallic and Non-Metallic Parts". The task group assigned to this document will work toward combining the two drafts into one mutually acceptable draft with intent to submit the unified draft to subcommittee for ballot. The remaining two documents "Standard Practice for Mechanized Ultrasonic Examination of Pipeline Girth Welds" - submitted by Ed Ginzel and "Standard Test Method for Ultrasonic Surface Examination Using Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT) Techniques" - submitted by Don Stevens and Mike Robertson, were both submitted as new E07-06 work items. Section members were asked to review these documents and provide input to the document sponsor prior to the June 1997 meeting.
E-07.06.06 Flaw Evaluation
Results of the ballot draft document "Standard Guide for Ultrasonic Time-of-Flight Sizing Techniques" were discussed. There were 35 affirmatives, 3 negatives and 52 abstentions. History of trying to get a document on flaw sizing were discussed. Tom Jones read a letter from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) that stated strong objections to the document. The EPRI letter stated that the document contained material that was copyright by EPRI and identified that the document did not address the most recent technology in flaw sizing. The letter requested that ASTM contact the EPRI NDE Center Training Manager and stated that EPRI was willing to work with ASTM to generate an appropriate document. Attempts by Tom Jones to contact the appropriate EPRI personnel have not yet been successful. ASTM members have suggested that the document be reorganized, with emphasis on defining terms unique to the sizing techniques. The received negatives and comments will be incorporated, the document will be reformatted and sent for ballot. Ed Ginzel, Jocelyn Langlois, Mike Shakinovsky and Mark Davis will work on the new document. Tome Jones will work to resolve the issues with EPRI. There will be no balloting action on the draft "practice" document until after the draft "guide" document has been reballoted and terminology defined.
E-07.06.07 Equipment Characterization
Documents have been divided amongst four task groups.
Task Group A - Search Unit Evaluation
The main committee ballot on E1065-95 revision to add included beam angle measurement for focused immersion search units passed. The concurrent / main committee ballot to add a note A1.4 passed with comments. The note will be editorially amended to address the comments.
The task group to develop recommendations for a means to measure sound beam patterns in metal, represented by Ed Ginzel, reported that other work by Canadian, British and European researchers have been reviewed. The task group has decided that the approach should go back to first principles and use a model to determine where errors are being introduced in the physical measurements.
The new subcommittee ballot to incorporate comments on the new E1774-95 Guide for the Use of Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers (EMATs), was conducted in the Spring cycle. The revision received one negative cast by Mr. Gu Ming Xin that objected to an error in the revision date in the cover letter to the ballot. The issue was resolved by a letter from Tome Jones with translation assistance from Jim Yeh, to clarify the status of the document. The revision has now passed main committee ballot and the document will proceed to publication.
Task Group B - Electronic Equipment Evaluation
E1324-95 is current but members requested considering adding changes that would address digital systems. The current document does not address frequency response of digital instruments. Emanual Butera will contact Steve Hart and Howard Van Valkenburg to determine how best to address the needed additions.
Task Group C - E317-94
E317-94 is current with no activity planned.
Task Group D - Digital Ultrasonic Data
E-1454-92 is being reviewed for any needed changes. StressTel has requested the addition of format information for logging data be included in the revisions, but have identified all current provided information as company proprietary. There is also some confusion as to whether the logged thickness data should be addressed in E1454 or in a similar parallel document. Tom Jones will resolve the appropriate use of data provided by StressTel. the document currently contains a data format that has been demonstrated for transferring ultrasonic C-scan data to at least three different systems with different internal formats. It was also identified that EPRI has established a data format for the logging and transfer of thickness data typically obtained during boiler waterfall thickness surveys. A contact at EPRI was identified and Tom Jones will contact them to determine if EPRI is interested in adding to the document.
E-07.06.08 ISO Liaison/TC 135 Activities
Dr. Len Mordfin reviewed the status of the ultrasonic documents moving through ISO approval process. Mike Tsao's document CD-12715 -'reference Blocks and Test Procedures for the Characterization of Contact Search Unit Sound Fields' has been approved for registration as a Draft International Standard (DIS). Jim Waugh agreed to assist with the preparation of camera-ready art so that this document could move forward. Tom McConomy is working on incorporation of comments into a clean draft for CD12709 (the conversion of E1001) and CD 12710 (the conversion of E1324). Joe Marble had prepared hand markups of the comments from the international ballot, but the original electronic version of the CD drafts was lost. Tom McConomy has obtained artwork and ASTM formatted text from ASTM headquarters. Len Mordfin will supply Tom McConomy with clean ISO formatted hard copies to guide the reconstruction of the documents.
Mike Tsao had prepared an ASTM formatted draft of the ISO CD 12715 for consideration for subcommittee ballot. The section passed a motion to table the current ASTM balloting of this draft pending the results of analytical and empirical work currently being done by Ginzel, Hotchkiss and Posakony.
Next meeting will be held in St. Louis, Mo. (USA) June 15-19, 1997.
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