Fully Automated Dye-Penetrant Inspection of Automotive Parts

Dye penetrant, as a method for nondestructive testing, all too often is considered as lacking the elegance of other popular NDT techniques such as the ultrasonic and eddy current inspection methods. In spite of the fact that dye penetrant inspection is still an every day industrial work horse, it just doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves. The mere mention of dye penetrant conjures up a mental image of some inspector performing a painstaking manual and visual inspection. This paper describes a system that was developed to put dye penetrant inspection on a similar level of automation found in other inspection techniques that are typically considered more sophisticated.