Standard Practice for Acoustic Emission Monitoring During Continuous Welding

1.1 This practice provides recommended guidelines for acoustic emission (AE) monitoring of weldments during and immediately following their fabrication by continuous welding processes. The technique is in a developmental stage and is not used routinely on production welding. Depending on the results of ongoing research and preproduction weld monitoring experience, these procedures are subject to change before routine implementation on production welds.

1.2 The procedure described in this practice is applicable to the detection and location of AE sources in weldments and in their heat-affected zone during fabrication, particularly in those cases where the time duration of welding is such that fusion and solidification take place while welding is still in progress.

1.3 The effectiveness of acoustic emission to detect discontinuities in the weldment and the heat-affected zone is dependent on the design of the AE system, the calibration procedure, the weld process, and the material type. Materials that have been monitored include low-carbon steels, low-alloy steels, stainless steels, and some aluminum alloys. The system performance must be verified for each application by demonstrating that the defects of concern can be detected with the desired reliability.

1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.