Mary Striegel will be the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the American Society for Non-destructive Testing, to be held March 17 in St. Louis, Mo.

The topic is the use of eddy currents for identification of metals (ferrous and non-ferrous), measuring the thickness of corrosion, and the recovery of serial numbers and/or images beneath corrosion.

NCPTT is organizing a session on non-destructive testing in historic preservation as part of the American Society for Non-destructive Testing’s meeting on March 17, 2009 in St. Louis.

The objective of this study was to develop a test method to measure the hardness of masonry mortars with a pendulum hammer.

Investigators from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art undertook this project to determine if worn-off or illegible hallmarks on silver and gold works of art could be imaged using scanning acoustic imaging techniques.

Hallmarks on silver objects can reveal much about the history of the piece. the name of the silversmith, the date of manufacture, the quality of the metal alloy, as well as other information can be determined form the study of the hallmarks.

The use of hallmarks on silver has a long history, dating back to at least the sixth century AD.

Eddy current testing methods were used to characterize model gilding layers on bronzes and to make measurements on gilded bronze objects in the Freer Gallery of Art.

NCPTT partnered with the Association for Preservation Technology International to plan and present a workshop on Nondestructive Evaluation Methods for Historic Structures that was held May 16-17 in Charleston, S.C.

APT and NCPTT partnered to present nondestructive evaluation methods for historic structures. The workshop provided guidance for professionals and students in the use of diagnostic nondestructive testing for historic structures. It was
intended for technically oriented graduate and practicing engineers, architects, preservation consultants, and contractors who are not familiar with this subject area.

The National Park Service’s 2007 workshop on archaeological prospection techniques entitled Current Archaeological Prospection Advances for Non-Destructive Investigations in the 21st Century will be held May 14-18, 2007, at the HAMMER Training Center, Richland, Washington.