A two-day training program on Inspection of New FRP Equipment & Piping will be held February 18-19, 2013 at the DoubleTree by Hilton New Orleans Airport in Kenner, Louisiana. Sponsored by the Materials Technology Institute (MTI), this program will provide a comprehensive overview of the areas that are of critical importance for evaluating the quality and conformance of new FRP equipment and piping. The classroom session is intended for personnel who are professional inspectors, but have little or no background in FRP inspections. Recommended prerequisites are an engineering degree or certificate and/or experience in fabrication, repair, or inspection of FRP equipments.
“While there are quite a few public courses, seminars, and training classes to help younger and less experienced inspectors develop inspection competencies for metallic equipment, the same does not apply for fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) equipment,” said Sr. Advisor, Mechanical Tech Service at Albemarle Corporation and MTI Project Champion, Hardin Wells. “The membership of the Materials Technology Institute recognized the lack of similar training for FRP equipment. The MTI FRP Inspector training class is designed as a first step towards filling that void.”
The class will be presented by FRP inspection expert Juan Bustillos of Bustillos & Associates, LLC, who will cover many topics including FRP materials (resins, reinforcements & Cure Systems), FRP manufacturing methods, manufacturing specifics (vessels & piping), etc.
“Unlike metallic equipment, where the raw materials (plate, pipe, and fittings) are homogeneous and built in accordance by others per longstanding industry standards, the FRP materials used for FRP equipment are very much non-homogeneous and are created by the fabricator as the equipment is being produced,” said Wells. “These features create significantly greater inspection challenges than are present for metallic equipment, where the inspector must validate both the creation of the raw material alongside creation of the equipment.”
