• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2003

Piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers for high temperature contact measurement were developed. These high temperature ultrasonic transducers (HTUT) consisted of bismuth titanate piezoceramic element whose Curie temperature is higher than $600^{\circ}C$, a backing material of the mixture of tungsten powder and inorganic binder, an inner alumina tube, a wear Plate and a housing. The operational frequencies or the HTUT were 1.04 and 2.08 MHz, respectively. Various commercially available couplants for high temperature were evaluated and compared. As a couplant for high temperature ultrasonic testing between HTUT and test specimen, gold epoxy was selected. The peak amplitude of pulse-echo signals from steel test specimen decreased with increasing temperature. The operational temperature of the HTUT reached up to $500^{\circ}C$ at which the continuous contact measurement was possible.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.504-509
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• 2016

Defects in dissimilar metal welds are reported to be on the increase during the operating lifespan and aging of nuclear power plants. In Korea, reported cases of defects due to dissimilar metal welds include the drain nozzle of a steam generator and RCS hot tube sampling nozzles. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a reliable automated nondestructive inspection technique and a system for the inspection of dissimilar metal welds of small diameter nozzles in a high radiation area of a nuclear power plant. In this study, to ensure effective defect inspection of small diameter nozzles (RCS high-temperature tube sampling nozzle) of a nuclear power plant, three different methods were developed. These include: (1) optimum inspection probe design by beam simulation, (2) multi-directions UT optimum inspection technique for the inspection of small diameters of different welded parts, and (3) remote control automatic inspection system. The developed technique and systems have been verified to be suitable for use in the inspection of defects in smaller diameter nozzles in nuclear power plants.