You often see automobile commercials where a car full of crash dummies plows into a concrete wall. In the automobile industry, testing that destroys cars is vital to test their safety. But with most products, such destructive testing is not necessary and would be a waste of money. However, the products still must be tested, which is where non destructive testing comes in.

Non destructive testing technically is any kind of testing that doesn’t destroy or harm the product being tested. There are a number of non destructive testing techniques, some of them very simple and some of them very complex.

X-rays are a very common non destructive testing technique. An industrial x-ray can be used to examine the inside of a machine to make sure all parts are present and where they should be. An x-ray can also be used to look at the inside of the machine while it is working to ensure every part is performing as expected. X-rays are a good choice because they can be used with very small items, those as small as half a millimeter, as well as large items that are a meter or more in length.

NDT testing methods also can include more sophisticated ways of seeing inside a machine or product. Industrial CT scanning can be used to get more in depth looks inside of something that x-rays can provide. Companies might use CT scanning in their testing to ensure a product’s thickness is what it should be or to see inside a complex item that has many layers. Though industrial CT machines are expensive, they can easily pay for themselves in a short time, because research has shown that such testing can reduce the costs of new product inspection and failure analysis by as much as 75%.

Other non destructive testing techniques include using a microscope to do a surface analysis of the product and doing a fiber analysis. Another method involves using a high-speed camera to take pictures of a machine at work and then using a frame-by-frame analysis to locate where a fault or failure might be.

Product testing is vital to ensure the product you produce is working as should be and can be operated safely. In the vast majority of industries, this is accomplished through non destructive testing.