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⚙️ Non-Destructive testing: Minimizing collateral damage
Mechanical engineering updates, hot jobs, best video games for engineers, and our Engineer of the Week is...
Shubhangi Dua
February 22, 2024
In this week’s edition of the Mechanical newsletter, we delve into the concept of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and its diverse applications. From surface defect identification to internal flaw detection without causing damage, NDT serves as a valuable quality control and maintenance method, offering cost-efficient testing across numerous industries.
Industry updates feature 3D printing techniques capable of manipulating material color on a microscopic level. Continue reading to discover how science addresses challenges such as lithium-ion battery fires and lightning strikes.
🚨 Aerospace, from commercial space flight to deep space exploration, our newsletter propels your aerospace career on Friday, click here to subscribe now.
🔥 Today’s hot jobs as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com
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INDUSTRY UPDATES
🧯 Chinese scientists develop dry water extinguisher, tackle LIB fires
Dry water (DW) as a potential agent to safely and efficiently extinguish LIB fires.
🦎 Chameleon-inspired 3D printing tech uses single-ink to print infinite colors
Merged bottlebrush block copolymers coupled with additive manufacturing for dynamic color changes and nano-control overprints.
⚙️ 'Blade coating breakthrough' protects wind turbines from lightning strikes
New wind turbine coating leads electric currents to the ground through ionized channels.
SPOTLIGHT
Non-Destructive Testing and its types
Testing involves validating the integrity, reliability, and quality of parts and structures, which may sometimes require some destruction. Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) or Non-Destructive evaluation (NDE) is a set of techniques used to assess a test specimen without damaging it.
Although the method may not be as effective for comprehensive testing due to limitations and flaws that are small or located deep within the material, it is a quick testing solution for detecting surface-level defects. This cost-effective solution for design quality control, maintenance, and improvement minimizes the risk of catastrophic failures, and there are multiple methods of performing these tests.
Eight common NDT methods:
Visual Testing: The most common technique, visual testing relies on meticulous human observation to inspect materials and components, sometimes with the help of optical instruments. It detects basic structural defects such as cracks, corrosion, and abnormalities.
Ultrasonic Testing: In this method, the test specimens are characterized by analyzing the ultrasonic waves transmitted through them. High-frequency sound waves are used for NDT to detect internal flaws and measure the material thickness.
Radiographic Testing: Using radiography to develop internal images of structures and materials with the help of X-rays or gamma rays helps detect defects such as cracks, voids, and inclusions.
Magnetic Particle Inspection: This method can easily detect flaws in ferromagnetic materials. The test specimen is magnetized so that ferromagnetic particles added for testing accumulate at defect locations.
Liquid Penetrant Testing: Liquid penetration tests are effective in detecting surface defects for non-porous materials. A penetrant liquid is applied, which seeps into the specimen and then discontinuities. Following this process, a developer substance reveals the defects.
Eddy Current Testing: One of many electromagnetic testing methods used in nondestructive testing, Eddy current testing utilizes electromagnetic induction to detect flaws and test conductivity and thickness by analyzing changes in induced currents.
Thermal/Infrared Testing: All objects emit infrared radiation or heat proportional to their temperature. Thermal wave imaging uses this principle to detect temperature variations and identify defects.
Acoustic Emission (AE) Testing: AE testing monitors acoustic emissions generated by materials under stress to detect deformations. For instance, corrosion can make cracking sounds easy to detect.
 | Engineer of the WEEK April 22 1985 Sam Altman  Entrepreneur | Computer Programmer |
Sam Altman has experienced a meteoric rise through the pantheon of American software engineers, and became one of the most well-known entrepreneurs in the world in 2022 with the emergence of ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence chatbot that was a vast improvement on previous chatbots and had a free interface that anyone could sample. Born in Chicago, Illinois, US in 1985, Altman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and received his first computer at the age of eight. He was hooked on them from then and headed to Stanford University in 2004 to study computer science. But after just one year, he dropped out to start his life as a software engineer and entrepreneur, forming Loopt, a social network mobile app that was location based. He was a hit with Silicon Valley investors, who dropped more than $30 million into the idea, but it couldn’t seem to acquire enough users. He sold it when he was 26 in 2012 for $43.4 million, though. | |
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
🧠 Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Written by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel laureate in economics, this book explores human cognition and our ability to make decisions.
⚡️ The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill
One of the most influential books in electrical engineering, “The Art of Electronics,” covers everything from basic electronic principles to advanced circuit design techniques.
🌌 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
This book is about the life and achievements of entrepreneur and engineer Elon Musk. It is a story of success and a tale of numerous setbacks and failures he encountered along the way.
🦀 The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
A Pulitzer Prize-winning work by physician and researcher Siddharta Mukharjee that presents a comprehensive history of cancer and its treatment.
🔮 How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson
With vivid storytelling, Steven Johnson connects the history of six key innovations that helped us progress into the modern era.
Here are the EVENTS you'll love:
Precision in Motion: Navigating the
World of Mechanical Engineering Innovations
Aug. 22 • 9 a.m. PT / noon ET
Designing Tomorrow: Insights for Engineers
Aug. 23 • 9 a.m. PT / noon ET
Merging Mechanics and Ingenuity: Webinar Series for
Mechanical Engineers
Aug. 22 • 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET
Spider-like robotic AI arms can be attached to and controlled by humans Remember Doctor Octopus and his robotic tentacles in the 2004 movie Spider-Man 2? A Japanese robotics company has engineered.
Spider-like robotic AI arms can be attached to and controlled by humans Remember Doctor Octopus and his robotic tentacles in the 2004 movie Spider-Man 2? A Japanese robotics company has engineered.
Spider-like robotic AI arms can be attached to and controlled by humans Remember Doctor Octopus and his robotic tentacles in the 2004 movie Spider-Man 2? A Japanese robotics company has engineered.
 | Written by KASHYAP VYAS Science & Technology Writer
|
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