What is NDTI?

*Beginning in Spring term of 2016 this program is no longer accepting new students. Students who are currently declared in these programs should contact program director Bruce Emerson to develop an academic plan.

The field of Non-Destructive Testing and inspection (NDTI) involves a family of scientific techniques and practices that reveal the internal characteristics of materials without impairing its future usefulness.

Think about this analogy—

You have an accident at home or at work. You fall down a set of stairs.

You are rushed to the emergency room of your local hospital and the doctors need to figure out if you have any internal injuries.

The doctor in charge leans over you and gives you a choice:

"I can send you to surgery and have the surgeon cut your chest open and we will use forceps to probe around inside and figure out whats going on"

OR-

"I can send you over to the MRI department, they will put you in a scanner and take some images from inside you to see whats wrong."

Most people would agree that avoiding a major surgery by having an MRI instead is a better idea. No knife. No scars. No painful recovery time.

Using NDTI is just like using MRI or X-rays except it is used for manufactured products instead of a human body. NDTI allows manufacturers and others to examine internal structures of a multitude of modern products without destroying them.