From 2014 ASNT Annual Conference Paper Summaries, October 2014. ISBN: 978-1-57117-355-3.

Copyright © 2014 by The American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Inc.

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Microwave Inspection of Fiber Reinforced Plastic Products

for Absolute Thickness and Remaining Wall
Microwave Inspection of Fiber Reinforced Plastic Products for Absolute
Thickness and Remaining
Robert J. Woodward 1 Wall
and Karl Schmidt2

URS Energy & Construction, Inc.

1
1
Robert
(803) J. Woodward
634-7075; and Karl Schmidt2
e-mail robert.woodward@urs.com
1
URS Energy & Construction, Inc.
(803) 634-7075; e-mail
2 robert.woodward@urs.com
Evisive Inc.
(215) 962-0658;
2
e-mail karl@evisive.com
Evisive Inc.
(215) 962-0658; e-mail karl@evisive.com

SUMMARY
The need to detect and characterize wall thickness of fiberglass pipes and tanks, while only having access
to only the one surface is increasing in many industries. This paper describes the scanning microwave
technique which is used to detect thickness and, especially variations in thickness, caused by mechanical
damage, such as erosion; or chemical attack, including osmotic blistering. The interferometric scanning
microwave technique described here has the ability to detect small changes in wall thickness, which is often
associated with the very earliest stages of chemical attack. This microwave technique inspection technique
has been developed to be applicable to inspection whether the inspected vessel is in service or out of
service, empty of filled with its associated process fluid. Proper selection of beam power and frequency
makes it possible to inspect vessel with wall thickness in excess of 3 inches in some cases.

Standing Microwave Interferometric Microwave Basic Theory

As illustrated in Figure 1 the object being examined is bathed in microwave energy. The energy is reflected
at all interfaces which have a change in dielectric constant. Both the transmitted and reflected microwaves
impinge on the detectors. The combined signal, interference signal, is captured with position information
to create an image. Since the voltage at the detector is the result of the interaction between a beam and
many reflections, which differ in both phase and amplitude, information about the entire volume of the
specimen is superimposed to create a single, 3-dimensional image through the thickness of the part.

Figure 1

Wall Thickness Evaluation Basic Theory

Figure 2 displays how the interference voltage is plotted on both the “A” and “B” channels. A change in
depth correlates to a change in the phase relationship between the two channels. The change in phase
relationship can be unambiguously correlated to known depths for thickness changes less than λ/2. Depths
between the known points can be interpolated.

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 Tra Tra
ns ns
mi mi
tte tte
r r
0 +0
B B
¼ ¼
λ λ
-2 +1
A A

Figure 2

As the thickness increases the phase relationship between the “A” and “B” channels is plotted on a phase
space graph as can be seen in Figure 3(a), where the phase vector angle increases linearly with depth, and
the phase vector amplitude decreases by attenuation. Expressed as ATAN2 (A, B) the relationship with
depth is linear over λ/2, and wraps at that point. This creates an image that resembles a saw-tooth pattern as
shown in Figure 3(b). Software which recognizes the 2π radian step “unwraps” the data to create an image
that can be calibrated in thickness value over several λ/2 thicknesses as shown in Figure 3(c).

Figure 3(a) Figure 3(b) Figure 3(c)

Data Collection Methods

Capturing scanning microwave data in the time domain only, “Line Scanning” provides a 2 dimensional
image with thickness as the ordinate and time as the abscissa. The time value can be correlated to position,
as shown in Figure 4. Line scanning is typically used for sampling and indications are further evaluated by
imaging with position information as shown in Figure 5.

136
 Figure 4

Wall loss = .150” Wall Loss = .155” Wall Loss = .145” Wall Loss = .168”

Wall Loss = .060” Wall Loss=.050” Wall Loss = .074” Wall Loss = .060”

REFERENCES
1. S. S. Udpa (Editor) and Patrick O. Moore (Editor). Nondestructive Testing Handbook, Third
Edition: Volume 5, Electromagnetic Testing: May 1, 2004
2. Schmidt, Karl and Little, Jack, Evisive Scan Technical Overview and Theory Training, Copyright
Evisive Inc.

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