Posted by Jim Hoffmann on February 01, 2001 at 14:07:19:
In Reply to: What is an eddy wave test?????? NT posted by scubabum on February 01, 2001 at 08:38:14:
An eddy wave test is done to inspect the threaded neck regions on aluminum cylinders. Electrical current flows through the metal and measures tiny fluctuation in the electrical current and can detect the smallest imperfections.
We started doing these test about two years ago, because of the increasing neck and side wall cracks found on older AL tanks (cylinders). Most of the bad Cylinders were made by Luxfer in the late 70's up until '87(it seemed like the 83's and the 84's had most of the problems) .
Luxfers solution to their neck crack problem was to have the dive stores and the hydro people buy $1000+ eddy wave machines, instead of doing a recall.
By the way, I have found a number of neck cracks and side wall cracks(most with the naked eye).
Jim Hoffmann
Scuba Toys