I am considering getting certified with ASNT for Level III in Thermography. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what courses I should take and where these courses are offered to get ready for this?

Robert,

Check out (in no particular order) Snell Infrared, Infrared Training Center and Academy of Infrared Thermography. All of them run Level III training courses. There are probably others but I am personally familiar with these three and they are all very professional. This is all assuming you are Infrared level II certified to ASNT standards already.

http://www.snellinfrared.com/
http://www.infraredtraining.com/
http://www.infraredtraining.net/

Ken Culverson

Ken,
Thanks so much for your reply. I've been to Snell's Level III training and I was wondering if there was any other courses I should be looking for to prepare for the ASNT test.

Thanks again,
Robert Edgerton

Check out Infraspection Institute as well here:
http://www.infraspection.com/courses_Level_3_Intro.html

Terry O

Robert,

All of the above recommended courses are of a great help and asset in passing your TIR method for ASNT Level III.

However, what many people fail to take into concideration is the ASNT Basic Examination. This is where I think most people fail and eventually give up on ASNT certification.

If you are looking at getting your ASNT Level III certification for only Thermal Infrared, then I would suggest you take the Pdm Basic Exam as this only covers Vibration, IR and other Pdm technologies.

If you are looking to eventually get certified in other NDT methods, then you will have to take the ASNT NDT Basic Exam, which covers all 11 NDT methods.

For ASNT Level III certification, you Must pass the Basic Exam and then Pass whichever Method Exam you want. You cannot get an ASNT Level III Certification by only passing the Method (IR) exam.

The basic exam covers for the least SNT-TC-1A, CP189, Materials & Processes, and all other 11 NDT methods it is a 4 hour exam.

However if you only want IR, then the Pdm basic exam is not as long or difficult it will cover SNT-TC-1A, CP189 and Pdm methods.

If you are looking for a course that will help you, I recommend, first going to a course that will help you in passing the Basic Exam and not just the IR exam.

Hope this info helps.

Thanks a lot Sonny,
That was what I was looking for. Now I need to find out where a course like that exists. Would you happen to know of a course covering the basic exam or possibly know someone who could help? I do only want the IR certification, but if I need to take the basic exam for everything, then I guess I should take that.

Robert,

There are quite a few places you can get training courses geared to passing the ASNT Basic Exam. Even ASNT offers the Basic course.

I have applied to ASNT already to sit my Basic Exam and I am planning to go to Hellier in Houston for the NDT Level III Course and sit my ASNT Basic Exam right there after the course. One of the hellier instructor is the same instructor that teaches for ASNT.

Hellier is supposed to be running the NDT Level III Basic course from July 9th to 13th. This is when I plan to be there. I am just waiting on my acceptance forms from ASNT for writing the exam.

You can check out their web site at: http://www.hellierndt.com/

You can call them and speak to a lady named Jobie at (281)-453-0060.

Hope this helps.

Robert,

I'm afraid there is no easy answer. I took the Snell ASNT Level III prep course, and that was very helpful. But it focused only on the Infrared and Thermal Testing part of the exam. I thought I would be fine to write the PdM exam, with over 15 years experience in pretty much all the PdM technologies, and certifications from Vibration Institute and Certified Lubrication Specialist. However, like the IR portion, the PdM part of the exam is full of simply bad questions. It's not enough to know the material, but you need to know how they are looking for you to answer the questions. The questions are seemingly randomly plucked from a very large body of knowledge, much of which is quite antiquated (some of the oil analysis questions pulled from books copyrighted 20 years earlier). I had to take the exam 3 times before passing, and the last time I checked, there were only about 10 individuals worldwide who hold PdM/IR Level III cert by ASNT.
Since no one is offering a general course to help pass the ASNT PdM Level III, it may actually be a better strategy to take a solid course like the Hellier training, and write the NDT exam. Each time I took the PdM, I wrote up at least 6 pages of comments about the poor quality of the exam questions, and pointed out errors in the questions. In later exams, some of these same poor questions showed up without any changes. It is unfortunate that the ASNT exam is so slow to change, and initially so full of questions that really do not assess one's knowledge of the topic.

I hope this input is helpful. Feel free to contact me to discuss.

Rich Wurzbach
ASNT PdM Level III-Infrared and Thermal Testing
ASNT Certificate #117658
Maintenance Reliability Group, LLC

Robert,

Just letting you know that I am booked at Hellier for their ASNT Level III Basic course starting on July 9th.

Let me know if you also will be attending.

Sonny,
Not at this time. Are you taking the basic course or is there a course which just covers the infrared method?

Roger,

I am taking the Basic Course and right after sitting the ASNT Basic Exam.