Mastering quality by integration of nondestructive testing tools into quality assurance

Commonly Nondestructive Inspection (NDI) and Evaluation (NDE) are understood as detection, classification and sizing of imperfictions(pore, inclusion, shrinkage cavities, cracks, etc.) in materials and components. Safety relevant components during ther lifetime (production and operation) ask for this type of NDE regulated by technical rules, standard an laws. The NDI/NDE contribute to the assurance of the products integrity by characterizing tolerable findings and relevant material degradations. The state of the art in NDI/NDE - developed in the last decade will open new fields of application. On one hand NDI/NDE-techniques are integrated in the early phases of product design in the industrial R&D-laboratories and contribute to the quality strategy, i.e. to design the basic safety of components. On the other and the use of NDI/NDE increases in "intelligent processing" in order to assess quality characteristics which can be estimated otherwise often only destructively and which are para meters for process diagnosis, monitoring, and control. The contribution discusses examples for this integration of NDI/NDE into quality assurance.