Inspection Methods

Inspection normally refers to the evaluation of the quality of some characteristic in relation to a standard or a specification. As products and their manufacturing processes have grown complex and divided among many departments, the job of inspection has also become complex and distributed. A flow diagram is useful for showing the various materials, components, and processes that collectively or sequentially make up the system. The main purpose of inspection is to determine whether components, systems or products conform to specifications. Inspection consists of the following series of actions:

• Interpretation of the specifications

• Measurement and comparison with a specification

• Judging conformance

• Classification of conforming cases

• Classification of non-conforming cases

• Recording and reporting the data obtained.

Corrosion Inspection and Monitoring reference book

Corrosion inspection and monitoring are key activities in ensuring asset integrity and control of corrosion. Field data and the results of laboratory evaluations should be trended to obtain up-to-date corrosion information. Management decisions on equipment condition, prediction of remnant life and requirements for chemical treating are only as good as the information input provided from field experience. Corrosion inspection and monitoring includes assessment of:

• In-line systems cover installation of devices directly into the process, but which need to be extracted for analysis, e.g. corrosion coupons, bio-studs, etc.
• On-line monitoring techniques include deployment of corrosion monitoring devices either directly into the process or fixed permanently to the equipment, such as:
• Off-line monitoring is mainly achieved through the use of inspection and NDT techniques, which include:

Corrosion Inspection and Monitoring Glossary

The use of alternative methods of detection in the future should be considered in the light of any new findings recorded. New inspection and monitoring technologies should also be evaluated and considered as part of an ongoing system improvement process.

Information Module

• Non-destructive evaluation

• Corrosion detection

• NDE techniques

• Selection of inspection points

• Risk-based inspection

• Maintenance revolution

• Maintenance strategies

Back to Corrosion Doctors