Materials Testing & Analysis Services
X-ray photography
X-ray photography is used to gain information about inner components of an assembly before the assembly is dismantled. It is particularly useful on assemblies that will split into many pieces when taken apart, making reconstruction of the origional structure difficult, such as vacuum circuit breaker bottles or fuses.
The main body of the HV fuse and the two end caps were radiographed in order to determine the condition of the internal components. The fuse element had melted at all the notches and fulgurite had formed. The striker coil had also melted along its length and also adjacent to the striker spring. The melting of the wire should release the spring pushing the striker out of the fuse’s end cap. However the striker spring was compressed and in the un-operated condition.
The striker end cap was removed in order to examine the striker mechanism. The spring and striker was housed in an aluminium shell, on cutting away the aluminium shell the tension was released from the spring. The striker coil was through the bottom spring coil and had been crimped into a brass joint. The other end of the striker coil passed through a loop in the top of the striker and the melted end was free. The clearance between the striker and the brass insert in the end cap through which the striker should be expelled was too tight and did not allow the striker to pass through.
Non disruptive Testing: X-ray photography
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