VISICONSULT ACQUIRES MAJORITY STAKE IN DIONDO After reaching an initial agreement in July 2022, VisiConsult X-ray Systems & Solutions GmbH announced in November that it has completed its acquisition of a 51% majority stake in the CT specialist diondo GmbH. This strategic cooperation will signifi- cantly increase the capabilities of both companies. Lennart Schulenburg, general manager of VisiConsult, said the combined products and services of the two companies would be greater than the sum of its parts: “For customers, bringing VisiConsult and diondo together means new opportunities to enhance operations. With our comple- mentary product lines, customers can now widen the scope of what is possible. This is a perfect combination of world-class technology, automation, and AI capabilities.” NEW PREFIXES FOR EXTREME NUMBERS The data boom has prompted the governors of the metric system to agree on new prefixes to describe the outra- geously big and small. The prefixes ronna and quetta represent 1027 and 1030, and ronto and quecto signify 10−27 and 10−30. Earth weighs around one ronnagram, and an electron’s mass is about one quectogram. Ronna and quetta might sound strange now, but so did giga and tera once, says metrologist Olivier Pellegrino. This is the first update to the prefix system since 1991, when zetta (1021), zepto (10−21), yotta (1024), and yocto (10−24) were added. AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY DEBUTS RENOVATED CT LABORATORY The Air Force Research Laboratory hosted an official tour of its recently renovated Computed Tomography (CT) Laboratory on 9 November. The lab, part of AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, supports nondestructive testing of 3D-printed materials for the Defense Department’s internal and external customer base. The Accelerated Materials and Processing Solutions branch arranged the tour to highlight an extensive makeover of its facility, which included the installa- tion of an additional CT machine and the construction of a brand-new suite to safely house the added equipment. “The lab tour specifically high- lighted how [materials and processing] lessons learned and the new Computed Tomography Lab are being applied to safely accelerate implementation of addi- tive manufacturing technologies into emerging and future weapons systems,” said Jeff Stricker, the Accelerated Materials and Processing Solutions branch chief. The directorate also hosted a formal ribbon-cutting event in the Additive Manufacturing Laboratory to recognize the recent completion of major infrastruc- tural improvements within both facilities under a shared funding source. Senior Materials Engineer Steve Thompson from the Structural Materials Evaluation section oversaw the project from its inception in conjunction with Matthew Geis, a project engineer from the Engineering Services and Support branch. “We’re proud to bring this facility into the 21st century,” said Thompson. “These changes will allow us to do our jobs better, and more efficiently.” The roughly $4.5 million, 6600-square- foot-facility renovation project was covered by Flex-4 funding and is slated to be completed by December 2022. The Department of Defense provides Flex-4 funds to enable unique research capabilities within its laboratories. Roughly $1 million in supplemental AFRL funding financed the additional computed tomography machine. SCANNER | INDUSTRYNEWS We want to hear from you! News releases for Scanner should be submitted to the ASNT press release inbox at press@asnt.org. www. .com • 2000 ASME & RFT tubes in stock - Same day shipping • Custom calibration standards • Mock-up exchangers / tube testing bundles • EDM notches, holes and flaws • S • Spiral notches & tube expansions • Corrosion simulation 12 M AT E R I A L S E V A L U AT I O N • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 2301 ME Jan New.indd 12 12/20/22 8:15 AM

| SOCIETYNOTES A NEW WAY TO READ EBOOKS ASNT has rolled out a new way to access and read ebooks at ebooks. asnt.org! Now users can enjoy a more streamlined access and reading expe- rience, easier keyword searches, a less restrictive digital rights manager, and a personal digital library. No software is required users no longer will need to download a separate app to view and manage their ebook. An optional browser plug-in is available for anno- tating and highlighting pages. If you have questions, please email customer support@asnt.org. ASNT MEMBERS CAN NOW ACCESS THE RNDE ARCHIVE Research in Nondestructive Evaluation (RNDE) papers from prior years are now available free to ASNT members. This new member benefit provides access to papers from 1989 to 2021. RNDE contains the results of original research in all areas of nondestructive evaluation (NDE). This research journal covers experimental and theoretical investi- gations dealing with the scientific and engineering bases of NDE, its measure- ment methodology, and a wide range of applications of materials and struc- tures that relate to the entire life cycle, from manufacture to use and retire- ment. To access RNDE online, go to asnt. org/rnde and make sure you’re logged in with your MyASNT credentials. SAVE THE DATE FOR RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM The 31th Research Symposium will take place 26–29 June 2023 in Columbus, Ohio. Accepted presenters will have the opportunity to publish their work in a special Symposium edition of Research in Nondestructive Evaluation. For more details, go to asnt.org/events. NDE OF BRIDGES Nondestructive testing and inspection of bridges have been historically limited to visual testing. However, lots of interesting solutions are being developed to determine key features of bridges such as concrete thickness, steel rebar condi- tions, corrosion, compressive strength, and chloride content. In this section, we discuss inspection of bridges using different techniques. US7992449B1 METHOD FOR ASSESSMENT OF CABLE STRENGTH AND RESIDUAL LIFE (Khaled M. Mahmoud) This patent describes a statistical method for assessing condition and residual life span of bridge cables. The overall approach is based on random sampling of a few cable wires and mechanical testing to determine probability of defects in the wires, simulating stress strain curves to determine strain incre- ment levels to reach ultimate elongation and hence remaining useful life. The approach utilizes a computational model to establish the distribution pattern of broken and cracked wires and applying the rate of changes to a time-dependent degradation prediction model to deter- mine the remaining useful life. US10620085B2 BRIDGE INSPECTION AND EVALUATION METHOD BASED ON IMPACT VIBRATION (Jian Zhang, Qi Xia, Bo Zhang, and Shuanglin Guo) This patent describes a low-cost and effi- cient technique for inspection of medium and small bridges utilizing impact vibra- tion. A backward analysis based on impact of blocks is utilized to rapidly inspect bridges from the road network to find ones with bearing capacity shortage. A forward analysis based on progressive impact loading is performed to evaluate the bearing capacity of bridges in good safety conditions. This bridge bearing capacity is assessed using actual static deflections and residual deflections from a calculated static load at the displace- ment measurement points associated with cracks or other defects. US9036861B2 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REMOTELY INSPECTING BRIDGES AND OTHER STRUCTURES (Shen-En Chen, Edwin W. Hauser, Charles G. Boyle, and Meenu Natarajan) This patent describes a low-cost inven- tion based on spatially integrated small-format aerial photography for imaging bridge surfaces to supplement visual inspection. The camera, along with a GPS for geo-referencing instru- ments in the airplanes flying at about 304.8 m (1000 ft) above, allow detection of sub-inch cracks and joint openings on the bridge. A plurality of aerial photog- raphy image captures are processed and combined to create a composite image for automatically marking structural defects, followed by a rating technique to quantify the structural conditions of the bridge. Patents Roundup provides a review of recent patents of interest to the NDT community. If you’ve been granted a patent and would like to see it featured in an upcoming issue, please email Patents Editor Saptarshi Mukherjee at mukherjee5@llnl.gov. Editor’s Note: Patents Roundup reviews both issued patents and published patent applications. Issued patents are listed by patent number, typically separated by commas (e.g., US Patent 10,891,520) and published patent applications are listed with the year first, followed by an identification number (e.g., 2018/0261344). At times, published applications may be of more interest to our readers because they are published 18 months from the application date, whereas granted patents typically take much longer. However, please be aware of the provisional rights to a reasonable royalty under 35 U.S.C. 154(d) between the date of publication and the date the patent is issued. PATENTSROUNDUP | SCANNER J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 • M AT E R I A L S E V A L U AT I O N 13 2301 ME Jan New.indd 13 12/20/22 8:15 AM