Use of magnetic particles and liquid penetrants with the BlueLine blue light inspection system

BlueLine NDT is testing fluorescent magnetic particles and penetrants for compatibility with the blue light system. If you have a particular material that you would like evaluated please contact us.

Magnetic particles

We have developed a rigorous procedure to test the suitability of existing magnetic particles for use with the blue light system. We want to be sure that you will have performance comparable with, if not superior to, that which you would get with an ultraviolet light.

First of all is a simple but important visual test - we look at the particles under an ultraviolet light and we look at them with the blue light inspection system to ensure that the glow appears strong. After this, we make quantitative measurements of the fluorescence properties. The blue light rating, the number in the last column below, is the efficiency of the blue light relative to a conventional ultraviolet light. A value of 1.0 indicates the performance of the blue light would be equivalent to that of an ultraviolet light (assuming the two lights have the same output intensities). A value greater than 1 indicates that the blue light is more effective than ultraviolet at stimulating fluorescence, while a value less than 1 indicates that ultraviolet is more efficient.

Particle performance under BlueLine light relative to ultraviolet

Manufacturer Particle Method Color Blue light rating
Circle Circlesafe 850A wet, dual use red 1.15
Circle Mi-Glow 600 wet, dual use red 1.15
Circle Mi-Glow 800 wet, dual use green 0.80
Circle DP93 dry, dual use red 2.70
Circle DP73 dry, dual use red 1.40
Circle DP75 dry, dual use green 0.90
Circle Mi-Glow UW#1 underwater, dual use red 0.80
Magnaflux 14A, 20B wet, fluorescent green 1.00
Ely Lumor X wet, fluorescent green 0.90
Ely VF Grey dry, visible* green  
Ely VF Yellow dry, visible* yellow 1.50
Ely VF Red dry, visible* red 1.55

[* - The Ely VF series is sold as a visible particle, not dual use. Our observations and measurements show, however, that the Ely VF particles listed above are strongly fluorescent under the blue light. The blue light rating relative to ultraviolet is given only for informational purposes. No value is shown for the VF Grey particle because it is not fluorescent under ultraviolet light.]

Additional measurements will be posted as they become available. If you are interested in having measurements made for a particular particle please contact us.

These results only show whether a particular particle can be made to fluoresce with the blue light sytem. They do not provide guidance as to the suitability of any particular particle for any particular inspection task.

Penetrants

We are in the process of making penetrant measurements and will report the results as they become available.

Numerous customers are already using the BlueLine FL5000 with penetrants in their rework areas, enabling shop personnel to see exactly what they are being asked to work on and improving overall productivity. So far we have no reports of penetrants that the lights do not work with, and inspectors inform us that there are no indications found with ultraviolet that they cannot also see with the blue light system.