Keighley Laboratories Test & Inspection Service Ensures Welds Are Fit For Purpose

Keighley Laboratories offers a comprehensive weld testing and inspection service, including welding procedure consultancy and approval, welder qualification tests, on-site weld investigation and, through its newly-upgraded Test House, a complete range of destructive, non-destructive and metallography testing facilities.

Keighley Labs is UKAS accredited for weldment testing and certification across a growing list of professional specifications, including relevant commercial BS EN ISO and ASTM standards and aerospace primes like BAE, Rolls Royce, Westland Helicopters, Airbus, Bombardier and the CAA, with the final assessment process now underway for NADCAP approval.

It covers all forms of welded joint, including butt or groove welds, fillets, lap, edge and tee joints, corners and cruciform, both plate-to-plate and tube-to-tube in similar or dissimilar materials, which are produced using all manual and automated welding methods, from stick and oxy-acetylene techniques, to TIG, MIG, MAG and plasma arc, even brazing and soldering.

Keighley Labs employs a complete array of test and inspection procedures to qualify welding procedures, welding operators and welding processes, by examining completed welds to establish their quality, integrity and compliance with specifications. Non-destructive testing techniques extend from visual inspection to check for surface defects and weld sizes, through to magnetic particle, liquid penetrant and ultrasonic examinations for detecting surface and near-surface discontinuities invisible to the naked eye, locating weld leaks and any internal flaws, in addition to meeting specific codes and specifications. Radiographic inspection for determining the internal soundness of welds is also provided on a sub-contract basis.

Weld coupons are also examined for soundness, strength and toughness using a range of mechanical testing equipment in Keighley Labs’ on-site Test House, which includes a dedicated CNC machine for producing weld test plates from customer-submitted samples. Options here include Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers and Knoop hardness testing, for providing information about metallurgical changes caused by welding, weld bending for evaluating the ductility and soundness of welded joints, Charpy and Izod impact testing for measuring resistance to mechanical shock, and digital equipment for fatigue life testing.

Keighley Laboratories
www.keighleylabs.co.uk/