Nucor Steel has an extensive special bar quality (SBQ) steel program that dates back to the conversion of its plants in South Carolina, Tennessee and Nebraska to handle the product decades ago.

In a business known for quality management, automotive component suppliers have few clear guidelines when it comes to nondestructive testing (NDT).

Olympus, a manufacturer of nondestructive testing (NDT) solutions, supplied Hellier’s Houston, Texas, location with advanced NDT inspection equipment. The OmniScan X3 phased-array flaw detector with FMC/TFM and other Olympus instruments will be used to train the next generation of inspectors in ultrasonic testing (UT). Hellier provides NDT training and Level III services. At its locations around the United States, the company offers classroom, online and blended training, as well as NDT auditing and consulting. Olympus’ equipment enables students to work with the latest NDT technologies and software while adhering to most company and industry standards.

Current codes, specifications and contracts usually require magnetic particle testing personnel to be certified. Here’s a look at what you need to know.

Sintavia LLC, an independent metal additive manufacturer, acquired QC Laboratories Inc. (QC Labs), a nondestructive testing (NDT) services company based in Hollywood, Fla. The acquisition enhances Sintavia’s NDT capabilities for commercial aerospace applications, particularly with respect to surface-finish conformance testing. QC Labs specializes in radiographic (X-ray and gamma), fluorescent-penetrant, ultrasonic, magnetic-particle and eddy-current inspections. The company holds approvals for these processes from Honeywell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Cessna, Eaton, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Rolls-Royce.

Dunkirk Specialty Steel LLC, a U.S. manufacturer of semi-finished and finished specialty steel products, installed a General Electric phased-array nondestructive testing (NDT) system as part of a $10 million capital investment from parent company Universal Stainless and Alloy Products. The company also installed a bar turn and burnish line as part of upgrades at its Dunkirk, N.Y., facility, which produces finished bar, rod and wire products in a variety of specialty steel grades. 

Tenaris will open a sucker-rods manufacturing facility in Conroe, Texas, in July. The $70 million investment is equipped with advanced technologies to optimize efficiencies and reduce production times. The facility includes heat-treatment, threading and finishing processes; nondestructive testing (NDT); robotized forging lines; and a state-of-the-art quality testing lab. The mill also has an on-site training facility and classroom.

Element opened a new 20,700-square-foot nondestructive testing and inspection laboratory in Sheffield, U.K. The facility complements the existing Magna Way laboratory, which offers sample heat-treatment capabilities, metallurgical testing and CNC machining facilities. Element has invested approximately $320,000 in equipment for immersion ultrasonic testing, dye penetrant inspection, eddy current inspection, magnetic particle inspection and on-site positive material identification.

Germany’s Zeiss broke ground on a site outside of Detroit, Mich., that will consolidate four existing Michigan facilities into one location and provide room for growth. It will contain a customer demonstration area with new technologies and systems; offer training, support and metrology services; and house fixture system production and assembly. Company specialists will be able to perform proof-of-capability demonstrations for multidimensional measurement equipment, surface form and geometry equipment, and nondestructive testing and surface defect detection equipment.