·         Broadening the scope of NDT & E in South Africa;

·         Helping BSc (Hons) graduates in the physical and mathematical sciences adapt to careers in industry in the general area of NDT&E, materials characterisation and quality control;

·         Making available to industry the wide range of expertise of the Wits Physics Department;

·         Provision of advice to industrialists on NDE.

  2.     Technological / Social Environment

The areas where NDT&E plays an important role in the South African economy are: aircraft maintenance and safety, the petrochemical industry (gas and oil pipelines, refineries, oil from coal plants, undersea gas recovery), the railways, electrical power generation and distribution (coal fired power stations and a nuclear plant) and the mining industry. A major new multi-disciplinary thrust is the Deep Mine Project, which aims to extend the depth of gold mining from 3500m to 5000m. Mine safety  (testing of hoist ropes and winding gear, prediction of rock bursts from seismic activity, etc.), mineral separation and in-situ borehole assay are some of the areas where NDT techniques have a role to play. In the future one can expect that a more  market and export oriented economy will lead to more manufacturers becoming seriously involved in NDT&E, in order to meet  ISO 9000 and customer standards.

 In overcoming previous distortions and shortcomings in our educational system, technical education and education of  previously disadvantaged people is being given  high priority. At present our NDT&E Program is geared to research and the training of graduate students at the MSc and PhD level. Extension of our activities to the undergraduate level is being evaluated. At present most NDT technician training is done by the South African Institute of Welding, which trains at Levels I and II using the SNT-TC-1A code, which is basically the ASNT system. A complicating factor is that  British and German standards are also in use in the Country. Technician training tends to be cyclical and influenced by whatever major projects are current. South Africa has become the focal point for the AFRA Program, which is sponsored by IAEA, and which brings together students from all over Africa for NDT courses.

3.          Departments/Centers Involved in NDE

The NDT&E Programme is located in the Department of Physics and its associated research groupings, the Condensed Matter Physics Research Group  and the Schonland Research Centre for Nuclear, and is coordinated by Prof. Every. It is linked to the Engineering Faculty though the Centre for Materials Research, which is a forum with membership drawn from  a number of departments active in materials research.

4.          Number of Scientific Personnel in Various Categories

Principal Investigators

Faculty - 4

Graduate Students - 10

5.          Internet/Networking

Institutional Web Site: 

www.wits.ac.za

Physics Department Web Site:

http://www.wits.ac.za/fac/science/physics/physics.html

NDT&E Programme Web Site:

http://www.wits.ac.za/fac/science/physics/ndte  

Contact Person for Computer Networking:

Nieresh Badal
Department of Physics
University of the Witwatersrand
PO WITS 2050
Johannesburg
South Africa

supervisor@physnet.phys.wits.ac.za

+27-11-717-6825
         +27-11-717-6879 (fax)

Contact Person for Web Site Development and Maintenance

Arthur G. Every
Department of Physics
University of the Witwatersrand
PO WITS 2050
Johannesburg
South Africa

every@physnet.phys.wits.ac.za

+27-11-716-2141
          +27-11-339-8262 (fax)

Web Site Hardware, Software Information

Sunsite.wits.ac.za

Server platform: Sun Sparc 1000.
Operating System: Solaris 2.6
Server software: Apache
Type of connection to the Internet:

Local (on campus): Ethernet

Institution: Close to T-3 (572kb to internet provider Uninet on 2Mb backbone line)

More information on apies.frd.ac.za/uninet/

  6.          Educational Activities

a.      Undergraduate

Physics Major

The Physics Major Degree Course is usually done in parallel with another major in the Science Faculty (e.g. Mathematics or Applied Mathematics), and leads to a BSc degree. A fourth year of study in Physics alone leads to the BSc(Hons) degree. The BSc curriculum is broad based, while in the fourth year there is opportunity for specialization, with options in solid state physics, applied nuclear physics and methods mathematical and computational physics and other topics. It is only at the postgraduate level at present that coursework and research in NDE is on offer.

  In the Engineering Faculty in the branches of Electrical, Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering, supporting courses offered include: mechanical properties of materials,  corrosion and wear, fracture mechanics, quality and reliability engineering and signal processing.

           b.      Graduate Program

The MSc degree can be done by research (leading to a dissertation), or by coursework and research report. The PhD is done by research which leads to a thesis. A candidate for the MSc  is required to show acquaintance with the methods of research, while the PhD thesis must constitute a substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge.

NDE Related Graduate Courses

Ultrasonics:

Wave equation, boundary problems, transduction, materials characterization, non-destructive testing, acoustic microscopy, tensor methods in elastodynamics, waves in anisotropic solids.

21 hours plus assignments.

Defect Solid State

Tensor theory of elasticity, dislocations, metal plasticity and work hardening, solution and precipitation hardening.

21 hours

Techniques for Computer Analysis

ODE’s, PDE’s, boundary value problems, numerical integration, matrix operations, modeling of data, Monte-Carlo simulations, Fourier transform techniques.

21 hours plus assignments

A one-week intensive graduate course is offered in destructive and non-destructive materials testing through the Centre for Materials Science and Engineering.

c.          Continuing Education Programs

·     Workshops are held on an ad hoc basis.

·     In 1995 a one day workshop was held on the dynamics of solids. The keynote speaker was Professor Yih-Hsing Pao of the National Taiwan University, who spoke on “Ultrasonic Measurement of Residual Stresses”. Some of the other talks were: “Ultrasonic NDT in Conjunction with Magnetic Methods” by F Chembe, “Ultrasonic NDT of Fibre Composites” by J. Huston,  “Ultrasonic Examination of Turbine Blades” by J. de la Rouviere and “Brillouin Scattering Measurements on TiN Surface Protective Coatings”, by W. Pang.

·     In February 1997 a two day workshop on NDE was held at the University of the Witwatersrand. The first day was devoted to techniques and the second to education and training. Professor W. Lord of Iowa State University was the keynote speaker on both days.

d.         Meshing with Vocational training Programs, Etc.

Technician training up to level II is provided by the South African Institute of Welding (SAIW), and there are currently about 400 people in the country who possess Level II certification. There are about 10 people in the country with level III certification, which they obtained abroad. From time to time specialised couses are laid on at the Rohloff Training Centre.  Occasional couses in NDT are taught at some of the other universities and technicons in the country.  Possible collaborative educational ventures have been mooted, but no concrete plans are in place yet. A NDT course is being planned in the Wits Centre for Continuing Engineering Education, which will count towards the Graduate Diploma in Engineering and the MSc(Eng). This course is a collaboration between the Departments of Physics and Materials and Process Engineering and industry.

e.         Exchanges

The members of the NDE Programme have extensive contacts abroad, and have all spent lengthy periods of up to a year working in universities in the USA and Europe.

7.            Research Activities

The research interests of the four faculty members of the NDT&E Programme are:

  Arthur G. Every every@physnet.phys.wits.ac.za

Bulk and surface acoustic waves in elastically anisotropic solids. Elastodynamic response functions and their application to transient wave phenomena, acoustic microscopy and surface Brillouin scattering. Close links are maintained with a number of experimental groups in Europe and the USA.

  J. Darrell Comins comins@physnet.phys.wits.ac.za

Optical characterisation of solids using bulk and surface Brillouin scattering, and Raman and luminescence and optical absorption spectroscopy.  Many of these techniques are particularly suited to the study of thin supported films, residual strain, corrosion and other surface conditions. Measurements can be made at high and low temperatures and at high pressures. The Raman and Luminescence Laboratory is a joint Wits-FRD National Facility. The Brillouin and Raman scattering equipment is state-of-the-art. Strong links are maintained with De Beers, the CSIR and the Schonland Research Centre, where a range of other surface characterization techniques are available. Contract work is done for industry and collaborative links have been forged with investigators in the USA.

  David S. McLachlan mclachlan@physnet.phys.wits.ac.za

Electrically based  microstructure  determination. The DC and complex AC conductivities of model conductor-insulator systems are studied  over a large range of frequencies ( 10^-2  to 10⁸ Hz) and temperatures, especially near the percolation threshold, and their properties are interpreted using  percolation equations and scaling considerations The same apparatus  is used to do impedance spectroscopy on practical materials,  such as electroceramics, polymer composites and cement based materials, determining the interconnectivity  of the components and detecting the presence of  water. Through study visits, Professor McLachlan has made many contacts at MSE departments in the USA and industry in South Africa.

  John I.W. Watterson watterson@schonlan.src.wits.ac.za

Development of non-destructive methods in the mining industry. In particular research and development in nuclear methods of analysis and on-line analysis are pursued with an emphasis on neutron-based methods such as neutron-induced prompt gamma-ray analysis. An extensive program is underway to develop and evaluate the new field of fast neutron radiography. This technique has applications in mining, in NDT and in explosives and drug detection. The program also involves the development of  position-sensitive imaging detectors with applications in many industrial and medical fields.  A training course is being offered in operation of the modular pebble bed reactor, and since 2001 has graduated a considerable number of students.

8.          Links with Industries

The TESP Programme of ESKOM (the national power utility company) supports our training of students

The De Beers Industrial Diamond Corporation supports  materials oriented projects

9.          Linkage with Other Organizations

 Involvement with Professional Societies

South African Institute of NDT (SAINT)

South African Institute of Physics (SAIP)

Royal Society of South Africa

American Institute of Physics

Materials Research Society

Collaboration with Universities and Research Institutes

Pofessors Comins and Every are Associates of the South Arican Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The members of the NDT&E Programme have collaborations with the following universities

10.           Funding

Financial support for our NDT&E Program is provided by the TESP Programme of ESKOM,  De Beers Industrial Diamond Corporation, and the THRIP program of the South African Foundation for Research Development (FRD),(which matches support we receive from our industrial partners with funds from the Department of Trade and Industry).