Helling TAM Panel
Pratt & Whitney TAM Panel
Test Panel Nr-5 according to TAM 146040
Helling are a German manufacturer of NDT test pieces including TAM Panels - Test panel Nr-5 is manufactured in accordance with the specification Pratt-Whitney Aircraft Drawing Number TAM 146040. Therefore test panel Nr-5 is comparable with test panel PSM-5.
Furthermore, the following requirements are fulfilled:
- ASTM E1417 (§ 7.8.3.1)
- General Electric Specification P3TF2 (§ 5.4.1 and § 10.1)
- MIL-STD-6866 (§ 5.8.3, 33B-11)
- NAVAIR 01-1A-16
- TM43-0103
Penetrant Sensitivity and Washability
A rectangular stainless steel panel (153 x 102 mm) is coated at the lower side with chrome. Five star-shaped crack centres are inserted into this section. They are arranged according to their size. The largest can be detected already with penetrants of low sensitivity. The smallest can be detected only with a high sensitive penetrant.
The upper surface of the test panel was sandblasted and is of medium roughness. This part serves for controlling the degree of washability of penetrants - i.e. The visual assessment of excess penetrant removal.
Performance Evaluation
TAM Panels can be considered a type of degradation check where the results can be compared to previous ones to determine a penetrant process is consistent over time. Deviation from the normal could be caused by penetrant contamination for instance, which could reduce sensitivity. TAM Panels are a practical and easy to interpret tool to ensure a penetrant process is working as expected.
A TAM Panel should only be used to access a single process and must be thorough cleaned after each use and stored in acetone. If you are using multiple penetrants it is strongly recommended to assign a TAM panel to each penetrant and only use it for that product.
As such TAM panels and PSM-5 panels are not suitable for the performance of comparative tests with different testing processes - For these applications an Aluminium Comparator Block or a pair of Reference Block 1’s should be used instead.
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