Structural Integrity Evaluation Based on an Innovative Field Indentation Microprobe

This is the first public presentation of the Field Indentation Microprobe (FIM) hardware concept — the earliest description of ABI® as an integrated measurement system rather than simply a test method. The paper describes a system combining the ABI® indentation test head with NDE ultrasonic transducers and a video imaging system for surface examination.

Presented at the Joint ASME/JSME Pressure Vessel and Piping Conference — the premiere international venue for pressure vessel technology — the paper reports ABI® validation results on both unirradiated and irradiated A212 pressure vessel steel, showing excellent agreement with uniaxial tensile data.

The FIM concept was significant because it envisioned ABI® not as a standalone test but as part of an integrated NDE platform that could simultaneously assess multiple aspects of structural integrity — mechanical properties via indentation, flaw detection via ultrasonics, and surface condition via video. This systems-level thinking foreshadowed the modern integrated inspection approach now standard in the nuclear and pipeline industries.

This paper is the earliest broadly-cited ABI® conference paper and established the technology's profile in the nuclear pressure vessel community at the outset of what would become a 35+ year development program.