Standardization News

ASTM International’s nondestructive testing committee (E07) has approved a new standard that will be used to aid in the creation, transfer, and storage of thermographic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) test results. Nondestructive evaluation is used to identify quality anomalies in critical parts essential to many industries.
 
The new standard (E3440) facilitates the interoperability of thermographic imaging and data acquisition equipment by specifying the image data transfer and archival storage in commonly accepted terms.
 
“The new standard is aimed at standardizing the way thermographic (TG) NDE data are stored by leveraging ASTM’s digital imaging and communication in nondestructive evaluation (DICONDE) format,” says ASTM member Sai Kalyan Evani, Ph.D.
 
Evani, a research engineer for inspection technologies at GE Aerospace, notes that, in general, DICONDE as a data storage format democratizes the way data are stored, making it possible to use generic DICONDE reading modules to digest and visualize NDE metadata/data generated by inspection systems.
 
“Industries that use in-house or vendor-supplied TG inspection systems will benefit from this standard after vendors adopt practices recommended by the standard in their workflows to save TG data in the DICONDE format,” says Evani. “Because data are stored in a standardized fashion, the regulators can digest/understand TG data generated by manufacturers/suppliers using generic DICONDE reading modules. By virtue of saving the data in the DICONDE format, the end user maintains peace of mind that the data will always be accessible and readable throughout the duration of their data retention requirements – and that capability has now been extended from other NDE modalities to thermography inspections.”
 
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