Destructive testing

Welded joints can be checked by various destructive testing techniques (microstructure, tensile tests, bending tests, microhardness filiations, macrographic examinations, chemical analyses, etc.) to ensure their conformity. These destructive tests are used to determine the characteristics of a weld and to certify the correct choice of welding parameters. The same applies to texture tests.

What is

destructive testing ?

Destructive testing is a type of test used in manufacturing that ultimately destroys the sample under test. Used to determine the strength, safety and life of products, destructive testing is often used to test welds, but is probably best known as a method of testing the safety of cars. Destructive testing comes in three forms: stress or stability; impact or safety; and hardness or strength testing.

Welds, in particular, are subject to many types of destructive testing when used on products. Welds undergo stress, impact and hardness testing. Free bend, break line cut, etch and fillet weld tests are all types of stress tests that test the strength and quality of a weld. Impact tests are designed to break the weld in a single blow from different angles. Welds are also subjected to tensile strength tests, which pull the weld at both ends until it separates. Recording under what conditions the weld breaks gives researchers important information about the use of this type of weld and the conditions that can make the weld unsafe.

The international standards specify the dimensions of the specimens and the procedures to be used in texture testing to obtain information on the types, dimensions and distribution of internal defects, such as blowholes, cracks, sticking, lack of penetration and solid inclusions, on the fracture surface.
For welds they apply to all forms of products made of metallic materials with a thickness of 2 mm or more, joined by any fusion welding process.

Apave carries out destructive tests for the characterisation of materials, welding procedures, etc...

Our services

This work is combined with other lines of action such as the qualification of welding procedures and welders or the study of chemical composition. Among the operations we carry out, the following can be found:

Tests for the qualification of welding processes and welders, which include traction, bending, hardness, toughness studies, microscopic and macroscopic studies.
Tests for the characterisation of materials, mechanical resistance, elastic limit, hardness, resilience.
Chemical analysis with spark, arc and/or X-ray equipment. This equipment is portable and can be used in the workshop, although if greater precision is required, laboratory equipment can be used.
Tests for the qualification of painting processes, such as adhesion tests, salt spray tests, etc...
Other tests that we can carry out depending on the customer's needs, such as corrosion studies, fatigue, fracture toughness, etc...

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Non-destructive testing

Non-destructive testing (NDT) makes it possible to assess the integrity of industrial structures without damaging them, to determine acceptability thresholds and to detect defects during condition diagnosis, so that the element under assessment can be replaced or reinforced as soon as possible without interrupting activity. Thanks to state-of-the-art instruments, Apave can carry out non-destructive testing of your production and structures using a wide range of means: ultrasound, acoustic emission, liquid penetrant, magnetic particles, radiography or thermography.

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Eurocontrol technician doing an equipment inspection

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