The inspection and maintenance procedure based on Xpection was developed in WP6, and is the interactive surface of XpectionTool. The procedure can be integrated into the inspection and maintenance plan, once Xpection will be considered as mature enough. The structure is oriented at the infrastructure of the two end users, but can be adapted to another.
Potential application: The XpectionTool will allow the non-destructive assessment of the remnant lifetime of selected plant components, once mature enough for application. The two-dimensional X-ray diffraction patterns yield information about grain coarsening and texture changes, and is directly correlated with the mechanical properties of the material. The primary targeted application within Xpection is inspection and maintenance. Further applications are quality control in production and inspection in other fields than those comprised in Xpection.
End users: Within the Xpection consortium the end users are fossil electric power generation and petro-chemical industry. Further potential end users are electric power generation other than fossil, aircraft manufacturing and maintenance, pulp and paper industry, chemical industry, food industry, foundries, cement and concrete.
Main innovative features: The two-dimensional X-ray diffraction reveals the real crystallographic structure of the material comprising information about the grain size and texture, which are correlated with the ageing state of the material. It is an additional method to the conventional metallographic replica, and it provides additional information not yet comprised in the inspection and maintenance infrastructure. The expected commercial benefits are among others the
reduction of replaced material by a non-destructive assessment of the ageing state.
The market and application sectors are comprised in the spectrum of potential end users mentioned above. Supposed that Xpection will be implemented in 50 % of them, a quite great market is then expected in future for the inspection performing industry, the XRD components manufacturers and for the research organisations providing further developments and improvements.
Potential barriers: The price for the mobile 2D-XRD equipment might be too high, especially in the initial state of application. The consortium keeps looking for more economic alternatives even after the project.