RT FILM INTERPRETATION

(RTFI)
 OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION

QUALIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION

RT FILM
RADIOGRAPHIC VIEWING CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT

INTERPRETA
STEPS IN RADIOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION

TION
FACTORS AFFECTING THE INTERPRETATIONS

(RTFI) FOR RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGE QUALITY

WELDMENTS
FALSE INDICATIONS

WELDING DISCONTINUITIES

WELDING PROCESSES AND ITS DISCONTINUITIES

CODES AND STANDARDS

INTRODUCTION
 Radiographic interpretation is the art of
extracting the maximum information from a
radiographic image.
 The purpose is to provide information that will
lead to a decision about the acceptability of the
component or product being tested.
 QUALIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION
FOR RADIOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION

SNT-TC-1A
PERSONNEL QUALIFICATION AND
CERTIFICATION IN NONDESTRUCTIVE
TESTING

JPS-03-9525
QUALIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION
PROCEDURE FOR NDT PERSONNEL
 RADIOGRAPHIC VIEWING
CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT
 FACILITIES
• The following are the considerations for
radiographic viewing room:

1. Illumination
2. Table Space
3. Ventilation
4. Temperature
5. Storage space
 RADIOGRAPHIC VIEWING
CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT
 EQUIPMENT

1. HIGH INTENSITY ILLUMINATORS/

VIEWERS
 It provides the illumination needed to
transmit the light through the radiographs.
 It should have light outputs of 100 cd/m2 for
film densities of 1.0, 1000 cd/m2 for 2.0, and
10000 cd/m2 for 3.0
 It is classified into 4 groups namely: (1) spot
viewers; (2) strip film viewers; (3) area
viewers; and (4) combination spot and area STRIP FILM VIEWER
viewers.
 RADIOGRAPHIC VIEWING
CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT
 EQUIPMENT

2. DENSITOMETERS
 It is an instrument that measures the intensity
of light transmitted through the film and
relates it to the intensity of the light incident
on the radiograph generated by a built-in
light source.
 RADIOGRAPHIC VIEWING
CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT
 EQUIPMENT

3. OTHER VIEWING ACCESSORIES

 Wax pencils
 Rulers
 Small flashlight
 Nylon or cotton gloves
 Charts or other technical aids
 STEPS IN
RADIOGRAPHIC
INTERPRETATION
Step 1 – Produce the radiograph
Step 2 – Determine the quality of
Radiographic image
Step 3 – Interpret all indications
Step 4 – Evaluate the test and test results
Step 5 – Record and communicate test
results
 FACTORS AFFECTING THE
INTERPRETATION OF TEST
RESULTS

1. Type of material being welded

2. Type of weld and joint preparation
3. Welding processes
4. Radiographic Technique
5. Applicable codes and standards
RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGE QUALITY
Image Quality Indicator (IQI) or Penetrameter
RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGE QUALITY
RADIOGRAPHIC IMAGE QUALITY
 o SCRATCHES
o SPOT
o CRIMP MARKS
o AIR BELLS
FILM ARTIFACTS o PRESSURE MARKS
o SCREEN MARKS
 - Are false indications produced
o STATIC MARKS
o LIGHT LEAKS
by the improper manufacture, o PI LINES
handling or processing of o HAIR LINES
radiographic film. o FOG
o FINGERPRINTS
o STREAKS
SCRATCHES

 It is caused by most abrasive materials,

fingernails and rough handling during
loading or unloading.
 Scratches that damage the undeveloped
emulsion will appear black after
processing.
CRIMP MARKS

 It is dark or light crescent shaped marks

caused by sharp bends in the film that
break down the emulsion layer and
protective coating.
PRESSURE MARKS

 It exhibits a significant lower density

area caused by physical damage to the
film from pressure or blows.
 It may appear also as dark lines or dark
spots caused by a buildup of foreign
matter on rollers in an automatic
processor or by inadequate clearances
between rollers.
STATIC MARKS

 It appears as either jagged, branching

dark lines or irregular and intense dark
spots, caused by discharge of static
electricity.
 It may develop when film is handled
roughly or moved rapidly during loading
or unloading the film holder.
PI LINES

 It is a dark line at a distance from the

leading edge of the film that is exactly
equal to the circumference of the roller in
automatic processor.
 It is caused by a slight deposit of
chemicals on the rollers.
FOG

 It is a slight, overall exposure effect

caused when unprocessed film is exposed
to low levels of radiation, to high
humidity and temperature, or to a
safelight that is above acceptable levels
of intensity.
STREAKS

 It is defined as a line, smear or band.

 These are caused by any of several types
of chemical contamination due to poor
darkroom setups or because of improper
processing technique.
SPOT

 It may come from fixer which appear as

small spots of a lower density than the
surrounding film area.
 Spots due to developer or water appear as
small spots of high density than the
surrounding film area.
AIR BELLS

 It is caused by air bubbles clinging to the

surface of the film when it is immersed in
the developer, causing light spots on the
film image.
SCREEN MARKS LIGHT LEAKS
 It appears as dark line when caused by a
 It appears as irregular black areas
deep scratch on lead foil screen and
resulting from the exposure of film to
appears as light spots when caused by
light.
flakes of foreign materials on the screen.

HAIR LINES FINGERPRINTS

 It may be darker or lighter images on the
 It appears as a very slender white line
film which occur due to handling of the
across a film negative.
film.
 WELDING DISCONTINUITIES
1. POROSITY
2. SLAG INCLUSIONS
3. TUNGSTEN INCLUSIONS
4. LACK OF FUSION
DISCONTINUITIE 5. LACK OF PENETRATION
S
 - Any kind of flaw or lack of
6. SUCK BACK
continuity in a material. 7. INTERNAL UNDERCUT
8. EXTERNAL UNDERCUT
9. MISMATCH
10. INADEQUATE WELD
REINFORCEMENT
11. EXCESS WELD REINFORCEMENT
12. CRACKS
13. BURN THROUGH
  Also known as Gas Pockets.

POROSITY  It is the result of gas entrapment in solidifying metal.

 It often appears as dark round or irregular spots

appearing singularity, in clusters or in rows.
TYPES OF POROSITY
1. Wormhole/ Piping porosity – an elongated and appears to have a
tail.
2. Aligned/ Linear porosity – a number of pores that are aligned
and separated by distance.
3. Cluster porosity – appear as rounded or slightly elongated dark
spots that appear in cluster.
4. Hollow bead – an elongated gas pocket that funnels down center
of root pass and follows the direction of welding.
5. Surface porosity/ Pinholes – appear open to weld surface.
 SLAG  These are oxides, flux or other non-metallic
inclusions that are trapped in weld metal, or
between weld and base metal.

INCLUSIONS  It appears as dark, jagged asymmetrical shapes

within the weld or along the weld joint areas.
 Oxide Inclusions

TYPES OF SLAG 1. Oxide Inclusion – are usually visible on the surface

of the material being welded and appear as dark
irregularly shaped discontinuity in radiograph.

INCLUSION 2. Slag lines - produce straight, irregularly shaped

dark lines of varying density on radiograph.
 TUNGSTEN  These are irregularly shaped spots of low film density
areas usually random in size and location.
 These are solid or liquid bits of Tungsten electrode used

INCLUSIONS in Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding that drop from end
of electrode and become trapped in weld metal.
LACK OF
 Sometimes called as “Incomplete Fusion” or “Cold Lap”

 It is a condition where the weld filler metal does not

properly fuse with the base metal.

FUSION  It usually appears as a dark straight line(s) oriented in the

direction of the weld seam along the weld preparation or
joining area.
 LACK OF
 Sometimes called as “Incomplete Penetration”.

 It occurs when weld metal fails to penetrate the joint.

PENETRATION
 It appears as perfectly straight dark band elongated in the
welding direction, usually in the center of the radiographic
image of the width of the weld.
  Sometimes called as “Internal/ Root Concavity”.

 It is a depression in the center of the surface of the root

SUCK BACK pass and is generally caused by shrinkage during

cooling.
 It appears as a darkened density band along the center of
the width of the weld image.
INTERNAL
 It is an erosion of the base metal next to the
root of the weld.
 It appears as an irregular dark density near the

UNDERCUT center of the weld image and along the edge of

the root image on the radiograph.
  It is a groove cut into the base material on

EXTERNAL either side of the top of the weld groove when

welding the final pass that is left unfilled by
weld metal.

UNDERCUT  It appears as a dark irregular line along the

outside edge of the weld area.
  Sometimes called as “Offset” or “High-Low”

MISMATCH  It is an abrupt change in film density across

the entire width of the weld image due to
misalignment of the two pieces to be welded.
 INADEQUATE  Sometimes called as “Insufficient Filling”.

 It is an area of a weld where the thickness of weld metal

WELD deposited is less than the thickness of the base metal.
 It appears as dark weld image density in the area of
REINFORCEMENT suspected inadequacy.
 EXCESS WELD  Sometimes called as “Excessive Reinforcement”.

 It is an area of a weld that has weld metal added in

REINFORCEMEN excess of that specified by engineering drawings and

codes.

T  It appears as a lighter density area in the center of a

weld image.
  These are discontinuities resulting from the rupture of

CRACKS
metal under stress.
 It appears as irregularly shaped, dark, wavy, jagged lines
which occur either along the weld length or across the
weld width.
TYPES OF CRACKS
1. Longitudinal cracks– cracks that are
approximately parallel to the axis of the weld.
2. Transverse cracks– cracks that are close to being
perpendicular to the weld seam.
3. Crater/ Star cracks– cracks that radiate out in
many directions from a depression in a weld.
4. Base Metal cracks– cracks that occur in the base
metal in any orientation to the weld seam axis.
 BURN
 It is a portion of the root pass where high heat has
caused the weld puddle to be blown out of or through
the root pass, leaving a round, elliptical or irregular hole
in the root.

THROUGH  It appears as round, elliptical, smooth, sharp or irregular

dark indication in the root pass image.
 WELDING PROCESSES ASME IX AWS D1.1
Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW)  
Submerged Arc Welding (SAW)  
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)
Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW)
Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW)






WELDIN
Plasma Arc Welding (PAW)
Oxyfuel Gas Welding (OFW)
Electroslag Welding (ESW)



--
--

G
Electron Beam Welding (EBW)
Stud Welding
Inertia and Continuous Drive Friction Welding



--
--
--
PROCES
Resistance Welding
Laser Beam Welding
Flash Welding
Electro Gas Welding (EGW)



--
--
--
--

SES
 Submerged Arc Welding
(SAW)
Gas Metal Arc Welding
WELDING (GMAW)
PROCESSES Gas Tungsten Arc
AND ITS Welding (GTAW)
DISCONTINU
ITIES Flux-Cored Arc Welding
(FCAW)
Shielded Metal Arc
Welding (SMAW)
 SUBMERGED ARC
WELDING (SAW)
 It is a welding process in which the molten weld and
the arc zone are protected from atmospheric
contamination under a fusible flux.
 It may be automatic or semi-automatic.
 It is widely used to weld relatively thick plates at high
metal deposition rates.
 This process is normally limited to a horizontal-fillet
welding.
 It is usually applied to carbon steels, low alloy steels,
stainless steels, and nickel-based alloys.
 SUBMERGED ARC
WELDING (SAW)

TYPICAL SAW DISCONTINUITIES

 Lack of Fusion
 Slag inclusions
 Lack of Penetration
 Porosity
 Undercut
 Crack
 GAS METAL ARC
WELDING (GMAW)

 It is sometimes referred as metal inert gas (MIG)

welding.
 It is a welding process in which an electric arc is
formed between a consumable wire electrode and the
work piece metal with an externally supplied gaseous
shield of gas either inert such as argon or helium.
 It is normally used in mild alloy steels and low alloy
steels, stainless steels, and in high nickel alloys.
 It can be used in all positions to produce weld deposits.
 GAS METAL ARC
WELDING (GMAW)
TYPICAL GMAW DISCONTINUITIES
 Lack of Fusion
 Lack of Penetration
 Porosity
 Slag inclusions
 Undercut
 GAS TUNGSTEN ARC
WELDING (GTAW)
 It is sometimes referred as tungsten inert gas (TIG)
welding.
 It is a welding process that uses a non-consumable
tungsten electrode to produce the weld.
 Same with GMAW, inert gas shielding is used around
the arc to protect the weld pool.
 It is typically used to weld thin materials and can be
used on nonferrous metals such as Aluminum,
Magnesium and Copper alloys.
 It can be used in all positions to produce weld deposits.
 GAS TUNGSTEN ARC
WELDING (GTAW)
TYPICAL GTAW DISCONTINUITIES
 Tungsten inclusion
 Lack of Fusion
 Cracks
 Porosity
 Undercut
 FLUX CORED ARC
WELDING (FCAW)

 It is a welding process that produces coalescence of

metals by heating them with an arc between a
continuously supplied tubular electrode and the base
metal work piece.
 It normally requires a shielding gas but there is also a
type known as self-shielded flux cored wires that do
not require additional shielding gas.
 It is capable of welding carbon and alloy steels, cast
iron, and some stainless steels.
 It can be used in all positions to produce weld deposits.
 FLUX CORED ARC
WELDING (FCAW)

TYPICAL FCAW DISCONTINUITIES

 Slag inclusion
 Porosity
 Undercut
 Cracks
 SHIELDED METAL ARC
WELDING (SMAW)
 It is sometimes referred as stick welding or manual
metal arc (MMA) welding.
 It is a manual arc welding process that uses a
consumable, flux coated electrode to create an arc
between the electrode and the work piece.
 It is the most widely used arc welding process.
 It is used for welding all steel types including low
carbon or mild steels, low and high alloy steels,
stainless steels, cast irons and certain nonferrous alloys.
 It can be used in all positions to produce weld deposits.
 SHIELDED METAL ARC
WELDING (SMAW)
TYPICAL SMAW DISCONTINUITIES
 Slag inclusion
 Porosity
 Lack of Fusion
 Undercut
 Cracks
 FACTORS AFFECTING WELDING VARIABLES
WELDING AFFECTING QUALITY

1. Shielding used 1. Shielding quality

2. Weld metal composition 2. Base metal quality
3. Joint preparation and fit up 3. Filler metal quality
4. Type of electrode 4. Base metal and weld metal
compatibility
5. Type of filler metal
5. Heat input
6. Welding pattern
6. Angle of electrode
7. Travel speed
8. Current and voltage
9. Welding position
 NDT PROCEDURES

ASTM Volume 03.03

CODES AND Nondestructive Testing
STANDARDS

ASME Section V
Nondestructive Examination
 NDT PROCEDURES &
ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

CODES AND
STANDARDS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
QW-191.1.2.1
(a)
Terminology
Linear indications – cracks, incomplete fusion,
ASME IX –
incomplete penetration, and slag that has length of
more than 3 times the width. WELDING
(b) Rounded indications – porosity and inclusions
(slag/tungsten) that has length of 3 times the width AND
or less. It may be circular, elliptical or irregular in
shape; may have tails; and may vary in density. BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME IX –
WELDING
AND
BRAZING
QUALIFICATI
ONS
ASME VIII –
RULES FOR
CONSTRUCTI
ON OF
PRESSURE
VESSELS
ASME VIII –
RULES FOR
CONSTRUCTI
ON OF
PRESSURE
VESSELS
ASME VIII –
RULES FOR
CONSTRUCTI
ON OF
PRESSURE
VESSELS
 RADIOGRAPHIC
INTERPRETATION REPORTING
1. All applicable codes, standards, specifications and procedures,
including acceptance criteria and personnel qualification
requirements shall be noted.
2. Required quality levels and techniques as referenced in the
applicable codes, section thicknesses, penetrameter selection and
placement for each thickness range covered.
3. General exposure techniques utilized:
a. Shooting sketches, including film coverage and identification
b. kV, mA, SFD, source type and curie strength and physical
source size (for gamma rays)
c. Film types and intensifying screens used
d. Calculated geometric unsharpness
e. Blocking and masking
f. Manual or automatic processing
g. Film density

4. Repairs, indications determined to be surface conditions, items

not radiograph after corrective action shall be documented.
5. All indications which are within the allowable acceptance criteria
should be classified and sized and entered on readers sheet.
DO YOU HAVE
ANY QUESTIONS