Elcometer Limited, leading supplier of inspection equipment to the coatings, concrete and metal detection industries, has announced the acquisition of Dakota Ultrasonics Incorporated of Santa Cruz, California.

Engineering is ‘almost invisible to young people’ because of inadequate careers education and guidance, the UK’s engineering profession has warned.

NDT can be a harsh industry. Technicians are often subjected to difficult, even dangerous environments; too hot, extreme cold, higher than most care to climb, enclosed and claustrophobic spaces, dangerously gaseous and chemical atmospheres – all are part of the daily NDT experience.

In recent years, the thermal imaging camera has revolutionised how we discover electromechanical and building faults. The technology has become significantly more flexible and easily affordable and, as a result, applications for thermal imaging inspection are growing substantially.

Materials scientists and engineers from six UK universities are joining forces to forecast the life expectancy of nuclear power reactors. Researchers from the University of Leeds have teamed up with colleagues from the Universities of Manchester, Nottingham, Salford, Sussex and Huddersfield to examine how daily radiation exposure gradually damages the graphite blocks that sustain nuclear chain reactions.

The accompanying picture shows Argyll-Ruane’s Director David Betts at the presentation of Robin Dawson’s 25-year service award – the first in the company’s history! The fact that it is the first is perhaps not surprising when you realise that Robin joined Argyll-Ruane in late 1985, only months after the company was formed.

Argyll-Ruane is launching a wide variety of new courses/examination services for technicians/engineers in 2011, including Ultrasonic Level 1/2 ‘TOFD’ programmes, Isotope Retrieval, Full Radiography and Eddy Current (Welds).

A demonstration day for the ultrasonic inspection of austenitic dissimilar welds was held on the 25th of January 2011 in Pride Park Stadium, Derby. The event was organised by Peak NDT of Derby and was designed to frame the DISSIMILAR project.

TWI has successfully completed a collaborative project – SubCTest – to develop novel NDT procedures and equipment for deployment from remote operating vehicles (ROVs) on subsea offshore structures and pipelines.

The ability of NDT to inspect an object without affecting its operating performance provides an excellent balance between quality control and cost-effectiveness. The NDT equipment market is well researched, with products and technologies well defined. As a result, often the contribution of the inspection services market and personnel gets overlooked.