This section provides an overview for flaw detectors as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 24 flaw detector manufacturers and their company rankings. Here are the top-ranked flaw detector companies as of November, 2024: 1.OKOndt, 2.SONOTEC GmbH, 3.Dakota Ultrasonics.
Table of Contents
Flaw detectors are non-destructive inspection devices used to detect the position, size, and shape of minute flaws in processed metals and materials that cannot be seen by the human eye.
Flaws in metals can accelerate the deterioration of products made of those metals and sometimes cause them to become defective, which is very dangerous.
The Flaw detector itself is about the size of a palm.
There are various types of Flaw detectors based on the principle of detection, with ultrasonic Flaw detectors being the most common.
Flaw detectors are used in all kinds of manufacturing industries and workplaces where metal and concrete are used.
Cast iron (iron containing a few percent of carbon or silicon) is the most commonly inspected material, and is used in many heavy industrial products such as automobile parts.
Flaw detectors are also used to measure the length of anchor bolts that secure structures to concrete foundations, to detect the adhesion and delamination of metal and resin such as in the lining of pipes, and to check the water level of liquids inside containers that are difficult to open or close.
Ultrasonic Flaw detectors can be broadly classified into three types: Pulse Reflection, Transmission, and Resonance.
In the pulse reflection method, a probe or transducer transmitting ultrasonic pulse waves, and when a part of the waves is reflected from a flaw or crack inside a metal, the echoes are displayed on the receiving screen to detect internal defects.
In the transmission method, an ultrasonic wave is emitted from one side of the inspection target by a transmitting probe and received by a receiving probe on the other side.
In the resonance method, ultrasonic waves are continuously emitted from the transmitting probe, and the presence of defects is detected by resonating the emitted and reflected waves.
Among these methods, the pulse reflection method is the most commonly used due to its high detection accuracy, and there are several types of pulse wave modes, such as perpendicular, oblique, surface wave, and plate wave.
*Including some distributors, etc.
Sort by Features
Sort by Area
UE Systems Inc. is a manufacturer of predictive maintenance ultrasonic instruments and related software established in Elmsford, New York, USA, in 1973. The company’s products include its UltraView branded cameras for visualizing ultrasound signals for pinpointing leaks or electrical charges and its Ultraprobe branded handheld devices for analyzing ultrasound signals from assets or equipment. It also offers monitoring and data collection software for its portfolio products. The company’s products are used by clients in the power generation, transportation, and industrial manufacturing sectors.
Centurion NDT was established in 1992 and is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois is a manufacturer and designer of portable eddy current and ultrasonic instrumentation. The company offers a diverse product catalog, including aircraft wheel turntables, bolt hole scanners, and ultrasonic thickness gauges. These products find application in crack detection in aluminum projectiles using wide scan probes, detecting cracks in carbide cutters after profiling, and checking for cracks in threaded propeller hubs.
Fischer Technology, Inc., established in Windsor, CT in 1979 is a manufacturer of coating thickness and material testing instrumentation. Their product portfolio includes coating thickness gauges, material testing instruments such as hardness testers, adhesion testers, and gloss meters, adhesion testers, used for assessing the bond strength between coatings and substrates. The company serves markets including Electronics and Semiconductors, Marine and Offshore, Construction and Architecture and Quality Control. The company has a national distribution network and a customer support center.
OKOndt was established in 1993 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, USA, as a manufacturer of non-destructive testing (NDT) equipment. The product list of the company consists of Eddy Current Double Rail Flaw Detector, Portable Eddy Current Flaw Detector, and Right angle surface probe, among others. The products are used for various inspection purposes, including detecting hidden sub-surface flaws and surface defects, monitoring railway track defects, and performing visual, penetrant, and ultrasonic testing. The company caters to the railroad, aircraft, oil and gas, metallurgy, machine engineering, and power industries.
Dakota Ultrasonics is an American manufacturer of industrial ultrasonic testing equipment, based in Scotts Valley, California. The company's product line includes corrosion gauges for measuring the effects of corrosion on structures, precision gauges for measuring material thickness, racing gauges to measure parts of race cars, and specialty gauges for measuring the thickness of materials that are difficult to penetrate with sound, all of which can be controlled using software and wireless applications. The company also offers flaw detectors, bolt tension monitors, and related accessories Dakota Ultrasonics' products find usage across diverse sectors, including petrochemical, aerospace, power generation, and automotive.
Optel Sp. z o.o. (Ltd.), founded in 1989, is an ultrasonic technology manufacturer based in Wrocław, Poland. The company offers ultrasonic equipment for nondestructive testing (NDT) and evaluation (NDE), providing online or offline, and automated or manual systems. These products find applications in laboratory and industrial settings, including the automotive, aerospace, and shipbuilding sectors. Ultrasonic instruments and devices, such as ultrasonic cards, flow detectors, and multi-channel ultrasonic units, are also available. The company notably serves as a member of the Polish Chamber of Commerce for High Technology and the European Association for Biometrics–Human Identity in Europe.
MARKTEC Corporation, founded in 1955 as Tokushu Toryo Co. Ltd., and based in Tokyo, Japan, is a manufacturer and seller of fluorescent paint and metal testing materials. The company offers a wide range of products for Penetrant Testing such as Dye Penetrant Flaw Detection Material, Magnetic Particle Testing, Eddy Current Testing, Ultraviolet Light Testers, and many more. The company’s products serve various industries such as automobile, construction, steel, and heavy industries among others. It holds the ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001: 2015 certifications.
Chongqing Leeb Instrument Co., Ltd is a researcher, manufacturer, and marketer of NDT instruments established in 2001 and located in Chongqing, China. The products are metallurgical microscopes, ultrasonic flow detectors, thickness gauges, and hardness testers for micro lakers, Rockwell, and Brinell. The company offers services such as delivery in 7 work days, one to three annual warranties, online assistance, technical & training support, and export to over $& countries. The company has ISO 9001:2015 quality management system certification, and all the products are CE and FCC certified.
HUATEC Group, established in 2000, based in Beijing, China, is a reputable manufacturer and supplier of testing instruments. The company products portfolio includes a variety of metal and non-metal testing equipment, such as portable hardness tester, micro hardness tester, portable X-ray flaw detector, digital ultrasonic flaw detector, and ultrasonic thickness gauge, among others. Their employees include highly trained engineers for sales and services who offer satisfactory products and prompt services to home and abroad customers. The company has two sister factories located in the area of Beijing, Liaoning, Shandong, and Guangzhou.
RTUL was founded in 1982 as a manufacturer of Ultrasonic instrumentation having its setup in India. The company designs various welding machines for different applications like Ultrasonic plastic welding equipment for plastic molded parts, Ultrasonic metal welding equipment for joining non-ferrous metal parts together, cleaning machines and equipment along with manufacturing and supplying portable Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Testing Equipment. The ultrasonic energy is also utilized to provide cutting of textiles, woven sacks/plastic, etc., and the powder screening machine is used for dry materials like polymers, pigments, oxides, etc. to help industries such as medical, plastic, metal, textile, and more.
KairDa Group Corporation was established in 2010 in China as a manufacturer of industrial testing equipment. The company designs thickness gauges to measure the depth of metals, glass, ceramics, and other materials with surface roughness testers to detect the coarseness of metal and non-metallic processing at production sites. There are also hardness testers, flaw detectors, and Ultrasonic flow meters to determine the values of metal rigidity, detect internal defects such as cracks, and blisters, and measure the flow of liquids for testing machines, robots, welding equipment, etc. They have extensive uses in electric power, petrochemical, military, aerospace, machinery, and other fields.
QingCheng Ltd, an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer, specializes in non-destructive testing (NDT) systems and condition monitoring solutions. Known for its IIoT acoustic emission online monitoring systems and NDT products, the company offers online condition monitoring solutions for industrial assets. The company's offerings include acoustic emission (AE) systems, such as AE sensors, pre-amplifiers, and AE acquisition instruments. The company also provides handheld ultrasonic devices, ultrasonic thickness detectors, and flaw detectors. QingCheng offers professional analysis software and an IoT Cloud platform, serving both laboratory and industrial needs worldwide.
TMTECK, founded in Beijing, China, in 2006 is a manufacturer of Ultrasonic Transducers and Coating Thickness Gauges. The company's product portfolio includes ultrasonic transducers that utilize the advanced technology to detect flaws and measure material thickness, ultrasonic testing equipment for flaw detection, material characterization, and thickness measurement and Accessories. The company serves markets including Medical and Healthcare, Aerospace and Defense, Consumer Goods, Industrial Manufacturing and Construction and Building. The company provides services such as Product Selection Guidance, Engineering Support, and Custom Manufacturing.
SONOTEC GmbH, established in 1991, specializes in ultrasonic measurement technology. It crafts custom transducers, sensors, testing equipment, and measuring solutions. With 200 employees, the Halle (Saale)-based company's subsidiary in Islandia, NY, supports diverse projects. The company's US arm serves equipment and vaccine manufacturers, tailoring ultrasonic solutions through collaborative analysis. Driven by skilled teams, innovation, and customer-oriented methods, it ensures precision, quality, and affordability in its products and solutions, catering to non-invasive fluid monitoring, preventive maintenance, and non-destructive testing.
Sino Age Development Technology, Ltd., founded in Beijing, China, in 1993 is a manufacturer of measuring and testing instruments, specializing in NDT and quality control fields The company's product portfolio includes Hardness Tester, Concrete Test Hammer, Thickness Gauge, Flaw Detector and Metallurgical Microscope. Their products are used in industries such as Food and Beverage, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology, Chemical and Petrochemical, Environmental Testing and healthcare. The company has global sales and distribution channels in Europe, South Africa, Asia and South America.
Danatronics Corporation is a manufacturer of non-destructive testing equipment and related products established in Danvers, Massachusetts, USA, in 2006. The company’s products include ultrasonic flaw detectors for characterizing defects such as voids or porosity, ultrasonic thickness gauges for measuring the thickness of active materials or composites, and video inspection equipment for hard to reach places such as tubes or cavities. The company’s products are used across the defense, energy, and aerospace industries.
Sesotec, founded in Germany in 1976, is a manufacturer of physical contamination detection and sorting systems for the food, plastics, and recycling industries. The company offers a range of products, including metal detectors, X-ray scanners, sorting systems, x-ray inspection systems, and recycling sorting systems with conveyor belts, as well as providing various services, such as technical support, training, and consulting, for clients like food and beverage manufacturers, plastic recyclers, and pharmaceutical packaging manufacturers.
Actuni Co., Ltd., established in 1960 with headquarters in Osaka, Japan, is a manufacturer of inspection equipment and security systems. The company's product line includes digital recording devices, surveillance cameras, RFID systems, shoplifting prevention tags, and HD video conferencing systems. These products are used by retail stores to prevent theft as well as commercial organizations to enforce security procedures. It also offers contract production of eddy current flaw detection, foreign material detection and measurement equipment used to detect surface flaws on metals and bearings.
Ryoden Shonan Electronics Corporation is a company established in 2004 and based in Kanagawa, Japan, as a manufacturer of ultrasonic inspection equipment. The company is part of Mitsubishi Electric Group and has acquired the ISO 9001 certification. It specializes in manufacturing ultrasonic flaw detectors, bolt axial force gauges, and ultrasonic transducers. Its products are utilized for maintenance inspection equipment, traffic-related systems, construction, petroleum chemical plants, and thermal power generation across Japan and the USA.
InfraTec is a German manufacturer of infrared (IF) measuring technology and equipment established in 1991 and based in Dresden, Saxony. The company specializes in producing IR sensors for measuring gas, radiation or temperature concentrations, IR cameras for capturing thermal images or videos, and IR detectors for detecting and converting IR radiation for signaling purposes as well as Fourier transform and photoacoustic IR spectrometers for analyzing the compositions of different substances. InfraTec serves clients in research and development, security, medical device manufacturing, and defense through a network of partner distributors in several countries across Europe, North America, and Asia,
PCE Instruments UK Ltd., started in 199 and headquartered in Manchester, UK, is a manufacturer and supplier of test instruments, equipment, and tools for weighing, measuring, and control systems. The company offers more than 500 test equipment, including analyzers, inspection cameras, meters, detectors, and sensors, with applications in various fields like data acquisition, electrical engineering, environmental science, building inspection, and food processing. Its manufacturing and development division is ISO 9001 certified, all its test instruments, equipment, and tools are factory calibrated, and the company also provides services for custom test instrument design, installation, and maintenance.
KBT Electrik, established in 1980 and headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey, is a heavy-duty conveyor belt and material handling machine safety equipment developer, manufacturer, and B2B supplier. The company's primary products include conveyor belt safety switches, explosion-proof switches, and high-temperature, heavy-duty limit switches used in the mining and steel sectors. It also produces hoisting equipment, such as rotary limit switches and conveyor belt monitoring tilt switch probes, to control material density during the flow of the primary-purpose fluids.
Evident Corporation is a scientific research and development company in Shinjuku, Tokyo that was established in 2008. Formerly known as Olympus Scientific Solutions, the company specializes in developing cutting-edge technology and products for various industries, including aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, and medical research. Evident Corporation has proliferated and expanded its product offerings and services to meet the needs of its customers. Their product offerings include non-destructive testing (NDT) solutions such as thickness gauges and automated inspection systems, XRF analyzers like handheld XRF analyzers, industrial microscopes, and video scopes and borescopes.
Eddyfi Technologies, established in 2009 and headquartered in Quebec, Canada, is a supplier of NDT inspection technologies, which include instruments, sensors, and software, and is a Previan business unit. Its product range includes inspection instruments, sensors, and inspection scanners. The products are used in phased array weld inspection, crack detection, and phased array corrosion mapping applications. The company is ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 certified and serves customers in over 110 countries. Its I-series VersaTrax multi-mission modular inspection crawlers are operable in pipes as small as 50mm, while the P-series can travel up to 1,000m.
Ranking as of November 2024
Derivation MethodRank | Company | Click Share |
---|---|---|
1 | OKOndt |
14.3%
|
2 | SONOTEC GmbH |
8.9%
|
3 | Dakota Ultrasonics |
7.1%
|
4 | Fischer Technology, Inc. |
7.1%
|
5 | ACTUNI CO.,LTD |
7.1%
|
6 | Danatronics Corporation |
5.4%
|
7 | InfraTec GmbH |
5.4%
|
8 | RYODEN SHONAN ELECTRONICS CORPORATION |
5.4%
|
9 | KBT |
3.6%
|
10 | Centurion NDT |
3.6%
|
Derivation Method
The ranking is calculated based on the click share within the flaw detector page as of November 2024. Click share is defined as the total number of clicks for all companies during the period divided by the number of clicks for each company.Number of Employees
Newly Established Company
Company with a History
*Including some distributors, etc.
*Including some distributors, etc.
Country | Number of Companies | Share (%) |
---|---|---|
China | 6 | 33.3% |
United States of America | 5 | 27.8% |
Japan | 2 | 11.1% |
Germany | 2 | 11.1% |
Poland | 1 | 5.6% |
India | 1 | 5.6% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 5.6% |
1 product is listed.
Roman Japan
40+ people viewing
Released in 2017. Full model change based on the predecessor PL500. Super high expandability to control a simple hardware configuration, low noise,...