Ultrasonic testing (UT) is a family of non-destructive testing techniques based on the propagation of ultrasonic waves in the object or material tested. In most common UT applications, very short ultrasonic pulse-waves with center frequencies ranging from 0.1-15 MHz, and occasionally up to 50 MHz, are transmitted into materials to detect internal flaws or to characterize materials. A common example is ultrasonic thickness measurement, which tests the thickness of the test object, for example, to monitor pipework corrosion. Ultrasonic testing is often performed on steel and other metals and alloys, though it can also be used on concrete, wood and composites, albeit with less resolution.

A technician performs MPI on a pipeline to check for stress corrosion cracking using what is known as the "black and white" method. No indications of cracking appear in this picture; the only marks are the "footprints" of the magnetic yoke and drip marks.A close-up of the surface of a (different) pipeline showing indications of stress corrosion cracking (two clusters of small black lines) revealed by MPI. Cracks that would normally have been invisible are detectable due to the magnetic particles clustering at the crack openings. The scale at the bottom is numbered in centimetres.Magnetic particle Inspection (MPI) is a non-destructive testing (NDT) process for detecting surface and shallow subsurface discontinuities in ferromagnetic materials such as iron, nickel, cobalt, and some of their alloys.

Liquid Penetrant Testing (PT), also called liquid penetrate inspection (LPI) or Dye penetrant inspection (DP), is a widely applied and low-cost inspection method used to check surface-breaking defects in all non-porous materials (metals, plastics, or ceramics). The penetrant may be applied to all non-ferrous materials and ferrous materials, although for ferrous components magnetic-particle inspection is often used instead for its subsurface detection capability. LPI is used to detect casting, forging and welding surface defects such as hairline cracks, surface porosity, leaks in new products, and fatigue cracks on in-service components.