Nondestructive Characterization of Materials. A Powerful Tool during Lifetime Management of Industrial Products

Today's NDT technology can serve with microscopic techniques in order to support introduced analytical techniques like SEM and TEM with redundant and/or divers information. Beside ultrasonic and Atomic Force Scanning Microscopes we have eddy current and micromagnetic microscopes and we can use chopped electron and ion beams in the same way as high spatial resolved laser beams to perform thermal microscopy - but with different and/or other contrast enhancing mechanisms than heat dissipation only. We will give examples for their successful ue in analysing fitness properties for the optimization of products. In order to shorten the Product Innovation Periods, simultaneous engineering strategies ask for the very early involement of production technology. Where new materials are used for new products, in most of these cases production technology has to be newly developed in the same way. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis following the production processes reveals the weak points of uncontrol leded behaviour and ask for the implementation of inspection technology independent of the fact, whether the inspection is performed destructively of nondestructively. It is obvious - where reliable intelligent NDT sensors exist for process applications - they will save a lot of money and contribute to productivity, mainly where the integration is on-line closed loop. We discuss examples to laser hardening monitoring. Lifetime extension of components in technical application is a general task with economical benefits. This holds for mass products also, so far safety aspects are under consideration, i.e. in the transportation industry. Here, as well as in the chemical and power generating industries, lifetime management is a continuous demand. NDT/NDE has developed first attempts for materials characterization taking into account damage assessment as part of the inservice inspection at a component surface during outage times