Dye penetrant testing

Dye penetrant inspection ("dye pen") is a low-cost, reliable way to find surface-breaking defects on castings, forgings, machined components, forged fittings and seamless tube.

A liquid dye is drawn into any surface crack by capillary action; once the excess is removed, a developer draws the dye back out to show the flaw's location and size. We carry it out in-house at our Midlands plant, so it adds negligible time to an order and avoids third-party inspector costs. Paired with ultrasonic testing, which finds internal defects, it covers both the surface and the interior of a component.