Visual Plus 3 inspection equipment

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (October 11, 2004)—Luxfer Gas Cylinders has announced that computer-aided Visual Plus 3™ eddy-current inspection equipment is suitable for use with Luxfer aluminum cylinders manufactured both from 6351 alloy and 6061 alloy. Visual Plus 3 is manufactured and marketed by Advanced Inspection Technology, Inc. (AIT).

This represents a change from previous Luxfer policy, which permitted the use of eddy-current equipment only with Luxfer cylinders made from 6351 alloy. Luxfer did not recommend the use of such equipment for Luxfer cylinders made from Luxfer’s proprietary version of 6061 alloy because earlier types of eddy-current equipment produced an excessive number of “false positive” readings, causing good 6061-alloy cylinders to be erroneously condemned.

After laboratory testing, Luxfer has determined that properly calibrated Visual Plus 3 equipment eliminates the “false positive” problem, accurately measures features in the neck area of aluminum cylinders, and generally provides correct pass or fail assessments with cylinders made from 6351 alloy and 6061 alloy.

As of this date, Luxfer deems Visual Plus 3 to be the only eddy-current testing device suitable for use with Luxfer 6061-alloy cylinders. Luxfer will continue to evaluate the performance of Visual Plus 3 under field conditions and issue technical advisories, as needed.

Luxfer is in the process of testing other new eddy-current equipment. Technical statements will be published when final test results are available.

Luxfer continues to recommend the use of earlier types of eddy-current equipment—including Visual Plus™, Visual Plus 2™, and Visual Eddy™ —to aid in the inspection of Luxfer 6351-alloy cylinders. However, these devices still should not be used with Luxfer 6061-alloy cylinders.

Luxfer emphasizes that all eddy-current devices are tools that improve the quality and accuracy of inspections—but use of these devices does not eliminate the need for a thorough visual inspection by a properly trained and qualified inspector.

This announcement supersedes all previous Luxfer statements concerning use of eddy-current devices with Luxfer cylinders.