Who is NDT INTERNATIONAL, INC.? 

NDT International, Inc. was founded in 1971 and is one of a select few nondestructive testing companies with an enduring pedigree.  Our facilities are located near the Brandywine River in rural and historic Chester County just southwest of West Chester, Pennsylvania.  NDT was established as a source of ASNT qualified inspection personnel for hire by the chemical and petroleum refining industries in the Delaware Valley area. Through steady growth in the inspection services field we were able to branch out into the manufacturing aspect of the nondestructive testing industry in 1977.

Our initial venture into the ultrasonic equipment industry was the NDT-701, a small portable analog design thickness gauge with LCD digital display first manufactured and sold in 1981. We now offer a full line of hand-held dual element thickness gauges for corrosion and erosion monitoring, fabrication and machine shop applications, precision gauges for measuring thin materials, coating thickness gauges for measuring paint, anodizing and other types of coatings on metallic material plus instruments for conductivity testing and ferrite content measurement.

As our focus on manufacturing changed we increased our emphasis on providing a variety of other equipment, supplies & accessories and testing services for our customers as a manufacturer's representative and now work with more than 20 other companies.  We can provide equipment for ACFM crack detection and sizing, magnetic particle testing, bolt tension monitoring, storage tank inspection, portable, hardness testers, concrete testing, a portable ultrasonic liquid level indicator and a low frequency ultrasonic tester for wood and utility pole testing.

Starting in 1985 with our model 801 SUPERSCOPE we manufactured a line of analog design ultrasonic flaw detectors with CRT display, adjustable flaw gates and an internal battery charger.  In 1986 the 801D was introduced, adding interface gating, distance amplitude correction (DAC) and a digital thickness display.  We have supplied ultrasonic flaw detection instruments to the U.S. Navy for use on board maintenance support vessels for the nuclear submarine fleet and to various other maintenance and repair facilities of the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.  NDT International offers portable fully digital ultrasonic flaw detection instruments.

Over the years NDT developed a portable magnetic wheeled "Crawler" inspection system originally utilizing our analog CRT display 801D SUPERSCOPE, with a portable strip chart recorder, and a steerable DC powered crawler vehicle carrying a dual transducer and cable assembly for the   transducer signals, motor power and water line. The system provided accurate, hard-copy strip chart recordings (B-Scan type) of thickness surveys of steel storage tanks and piping. Our current version of the crawler system is adaptable to a number of high-end digital thickness gauges.  The vehicle can also be adapted for CCTV inspection and other applications.

Our initial venture as a manufacturer was an acoustic emission based on-board monitoring instrument, the OBM 500, for which we hold a U.S. Patent. The monitor listens for the sounds generated by fibers breaking within an FRP structure and alarms personnel to potential damage and dangerous conditions. The product is a continuous monitoring system used on such fiberglass structures as the boom on a utility company bucket truck or FRP storage tanks.

Production of the valve position monitoring system led to our development of the acoustic leak detection system.  This system was designed to monitor boiler tubes, feedwater heaters and other steam based systems for the presence and growth of leaks.  As in the fiberglass monitoring system described above, the equipment "listens" for sounds generated by the plant operating equipment, indicating a potential or existing problem, and initiates an alarm to alert plant operators. This early warning allows plant personnel to implement a scheduled outage for repairs, saving emergency down time costs and additional damage to equipment.

NDT's OLM systems are operating in twenty-four plants, for boiler tube and feedwater heater leak detection. This is a total of over five hundred forty channels of leak detection equipment, including a large two computer/four boiler system supplied to the federal power generation organization in Setubal, Portugal.  NDT's acoustic leak detection system made use of our software and technology to provide accurate leak detection, precise signal recognition, increased sensitivity and leak analysis through color graphics displays.  Due to reductions in plant expenditures we discontinued production of the systems in 2002.

In the summer of 1995 we introduced the Corona 500, a portable single channel acoustic monitor with on-board data logging capabilities. This instrument was developed to detect partial discharge conditions in large electronic transformers, motors and switch gear. Our Corona 400, released in the fall of 1996, was a portable ultrasonic leak detector designed for locating leaks in air lines, gas distribution lines, steam lines, etc. in pressurized systems, as well as leaks in weather stripping, seals, bulkheads, hatches and other water-tight closures. It has recently been discontinued.

In addition to our own products noted above, NDT International has assisted in the design, development and manufacture of many specialized products and systems.  We have designed and manufactured a valve diagnostic system for Fisher Controls International.  Our SCRAM Control Rod Insertion Timing System was developed and installed at PECO's Peach Bottom and Limerick Nuclear Generating Stations.  NDT worked with the DuPont Company to develop a mobile on-line system for remote monitoring and reporting of wheel bearing wear, internal temperature and pressure level fluctuation, and precise location of railroad tank cars through use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) reporting through a cellular telephone connection with microcomputer and modem system.

NDT International, Inc. has always been a service oriented company; capable of meeting nearly any nondestructive testing need, whether it is equipment, consulting or inspection services, supplies, or accessories.  If you have any questions, need specific information on any of our products, or want to discuss a project or problem, please feel free to contact us at any time.  We look forward to hearing from you and hope that we may soon become a valued supplier of nondestructive equipment, accessories and services for your company.

info@ndtint.com