CURRENT STATE OF NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING METHODS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THEIR AUTOMATION
Reliable nondestructive testing of structures and materials is necessary to reduce possible safety problems in their operation. There are various approaches to such control related to the issues of quality assurance throughout the product life cycle. The article analyzes the known methods of non-destructive testing for detecting and assessing the development of defects in structural materials. Such methods include acoustic emission, ultrasonic control, infrared thermography, digital image correlation and X-ray and neutron imaging. For each method a brief historical background, principles, standard technique, equipment, and tools used in the study are given. On the basis of the analysis, it was found out that further development of non-destructive testing methods will be aimed at creating intellectual and automated testing systems with high accuracy and possibility of effective data processing.