By Eng. Carlos F Molina

Liquid penetrant examination is a NDE technique used many situations. It is an effective means for detecting discontinuities which are open to the surface of nonporous metals and other materials. Typical discontinuities detectable by this method are cracks, seams, laps, cold shuts, laminations, and porosity. In fillet welds of big size (you define big size), it can be used in several stages to make an approximation to a volumetric NDE. It is better used if applied to the root pass of containment welds.

The Body of Knowledge for the API 653 exam (there is a new BOK here) says the following:

body-of-knowledge-article-6 (more…)

By Eng. Carlos F Molina

Hi. Following two months and a half of a new job in Panama, I haven´t been so atentive to my website. I am again working for a contractor, meaning I have almost no time at all to update this site. I am usually void of energy because of all of the work that needs to be done.  I hope that changes in the near future. By now, I am trying to retake writing in apiexam.com and to really commit to an schedule. Even when I didn´t write in a long time, the number of people that found value in my content grew (I have 255 suscribers now) in the past 2 and a half months.

Last time, we talked about Ultrasound according to Article 23 Ultrasonic Standards, Section SE–797, only things related to the Body Of Knowledge. This time we will review the use of ultrasound in tanks.

INTRODUCTION

Ultrasonic testing, I think, is going to replace RT as a mean of inspecting welded joints in tanks, because of its many advantages, like reducing hazards and downtime associated with radiography.

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By Carlos F Molina

In the Body Of Knowledge for the API 653 exam, Ultrasonic Testing is one of the smallest parts that needs to be studied. This is what the Body Of Knowledge says you need to get:

E. Article 23, Ultrasonic Standards, Section SE–797 only – Standard practice for measuring thickness by manual ultrasonic pulse-echo contact method:
The inspector should be familiar with and understand;
1. The Scope of Article 23, Section SE-797,
2. The general rules for applying and using the Ultrasonic method
3. The specific procedures for Ultrasonic thickness measurement as contained in paragraph 7.

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By Carlos F Molina

This is my last article about radiology in tanks for readers who are studying for the API 653 exam. We will see

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By Carlos F Molina

In this article we will be talking more on the subject of radiology in the ASME V code

NOTE: This article is half of what originally was intended to be. It turns out that, as usual, good research takes a lot of time and as consequence, articles end up being longer and not reader-friendly.  So I trimmed out the info and I am resizing with the info needed by API 653 readers.

There is 1 characteristic of a good radiograph that you should control:

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By Carlos F Molina

I am pleased to be back with you for this article. We are reviewing basic radiology for the 653 exam according to ASME V. This is following the radiology first article of this series

Hey. If you know apiexam.com, maybe you have realized that I try to make my articles following the exact order of the Body Of Knowledge. Did you notice then that something was lacking from the latter article? Yes… it was procedure demonstration. (more…)