"The audit went smoothly and very promptly, with no difficulties at all. The people in charge at YXLON who had offered support prior to the audit along with the colleagues at TITAL who were involved in the auditing process itself performed first-class work," Frank Schulte from Quality Management at TITAL was pleased to report on the ensuing successful certification.
In order to do justice to the AC7114/6 qualification process for non-destructive testing using a digital X-ray inspection system and fulfill the audit criteria posed, for TITAL the first decisive step was the outstanding image quality of the Y.MU2000-D X-ray system equipped with a digital flat-panel detector and Y.HDR-Inspect technology. The term HDR, for highly dynamic radioscopy, means on the one hand that a high degree of dynamics exists on the part of the detector in relation to material thickness, and on the other a high degree of dynamics with regard to the image refresh rate. Using HDR, the qualities of inspection called for can be achieved very easily, even in the case of crucial aviation parts. In the past 3 years, highly dynamic radioscopy from YXLON has revolutionized inspection by means of X-rays.
In addition to qualification, on many points the checklist for Nadcap certification also refers to ASTM standards in the USA, for instance ASTM E2737 toward auditing long-term stability. Regular measurement of numerous image quality and detector parameters is called for here, whereby capturing such parameters without the appropriate software support would be very difficult, if at all possible. With the new release version of its Y.IMAGE3500 imaging software YXLON is offering functions that enable these measurements to be carried out automatically. As a result, YXLON is laying down a first basis for certifying digital radiography in accordance with Nadcap stipulations.
Parallel to the certification in Bestwig, Germany, the 400th Y.MU2000 system sold went into operation at the new TITAL factory in Nantong, China. For TITAL this is the third system from this series in deployment. Originally launched on the market in 1998, Y.MU2000 has evolved into the bestselling YXLON X-ray system and set standards time and again.
Headquartered in Bestwig, Germany, TITAL is a leading manufacturer of sophisticated investment casting products made of titanium and aluminum alloys. Among other customers, the company actively supplies the largest producers in the aviation and aerospace industry worldwide. When it comes to quality assurance, TITAL is going to continue to invest in digital X-ray technology in the future, too.