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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based

Artificial Neural Networks

Conference Paper · October 2000

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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural Networks

Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in

Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural
Networks
Nacereddine Nafaâ , Drai Redouane & BENCHAALA Amar
Laboratoire du Traitement du Signal et de l'Image Centre de Soudage et de
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Abstract

This paper contains two parts: In the first part, we show the effectiveness of using neural paradigms
to detect edges in X-Ray images which are used in Non Destructive Testing. The developed classifier
consisted of a multilayer feed forward network window in which the center pixel was classified using
gray scale information within the window. The aim of the work in the second part, is to construct a set
of weld defect descriptors in X-ray images and their recognition by the neural classifier. These
descriptors are based on the geometric invariant moments which are insensitive regarding usual
geometrical transformations. Once the geometric invariant features computed, a neural network
classifier trained by back-propagation has to classify the defect-images in planer or volumetric defect
classes.
Key words: X-Ray images, Weld defects, Artificial Neural networks, Edge detection, Invariant
moments.

1. Introduction

We intend by Nondestructive Testing (NDT) any examination of industrial materials and assemblies
using methods that don't alter their structure, permitting further utilization. Each method is specific
and is destined to measure certain properties or to make conspicuous certain types of defects.Then,
they have to be chosen in terms of examined material and the property or the imperfection we want
detect. One of the most techniques used in NDT is Radiography which is based on the transmission of
X-rays or gamma-rays through an object to produce an image on radiographic film. This method is
used for inspecting several types of welded assemblies such as pipe-lines, boilers, pressure vessels
etc. Inspected zones may present multifarious defects such as porosity, inclusions, cracks, lack of
penetration, lack of fusion etc.,repertoried by official norms of NDT [1].
This radiogram is examined by radiography interpreters whose the task consist in detect, recognize
and quantify eventual defects, but the radiogram quality, the welding over-thickness, the bad
contrast, the noise and the weak sizes of defects make difficult their job [2]. The defect quantification
in these conditions is submitted to human judgement and subjective considerations, such as,
capabilities and experience of the interpreter because, it takes time to train a film interpreter. In
addition, human interpretation of weld quality based on film radiography is very subjective,
inconsistent, labor intensive, and sometimes biased. It is thus desirable to develop some forms of
computer-aided systems to assist the human interpreter in evaluating the quality of welded joints.
This involves the digitization of film radiography and the development of algorithms to extract welds
and to identify flaws in them. Therefore, we try to apply the digital image processing and artificial
intelligence technologies for the defect classification [3].
One of the essential processes in computer vision consists in reduce the huge quantity of information,
contained in image of objects which we have to recognize by preserving, only the most important
points. Therefore, generally, the edge detection is the first stage we apply before the recognition
stage [4].
In the second stage, namely, image analysis, we use geometric invariant moments for feature
extraction of the defect-images. The main interest of the moments thus computed is their invariance
regarding usual geometric transformations (translation, rotation, scale change) [5]. This, is very

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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural Networks

important in the case of our application, because the aim of the radiographic control automation is to
identify, firstly, the different types of welding defects, in spite their emplacement, orientation or size.
For example, a fissure is always identified as being a fissure, in spite its orientation or dimension.
The past decade has seen a rapid growth of interest in the computer programming techniques of
artificial intelligence. One such area that has become particularly topical is that of artificial neural
networks. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are computational representations based on the biological
neural architecture of the brain [6],[7]. The early work in this field dates back to 1943, although most
investigation has taken place recently as computers have become more widespread and computing
speeds and memory have increased, thus allowing the simulation of realistic problems. ANNs have
been successfully applied to a wide range of engineering and scientific applications such as signal and
image processing [8], data analysis, process control and prediction. Thus, it is expected that neural
networks based techniques would perform better in image processing, pattern recognition and
classification problems.
In the first part of this paper, we propose the application of Artificial Neural Networks in the edge
detection of X-ray images containing defects of welding. After a description of the ANN configuration
dedicated to the X-ray edge detection task, will succeed the discussion of results deriving from this
application.
In the second part we propose the application of the neural networks, trained by the back-
propagation, to the preliminary classification of the weld defects in X-ray images, through image
analysis by geometric invariant moments. Thus, after a definition of the used features and the
corresponding neural networks architecture, results will be presented and commented.

2. Edge detection in x-ray images based Ann

2.1. Ann's configuration

Because of digital radiogram's high resolution, it is physically impossible to develop a multilayer neural
network that detects all the edges on radiogram at once.
Therefore, we designed a network window classifier which classifies the central pixel of a relatively
small area in the image. To extract the edges, the window must slide, pixel by pixel, over the entire
image. Then, the input layer of the network corresponds to the portion of image covered by the
window (3x3) [9], [10]. Therefore, the ANN has 9 neurons receiving the gray-scale values of pixels
composing the square window. The output layer contains one neuron whom the state identifies the
edges from the background and creates the segmented image.
There are no accurate rules for the option of the hidden layers number and the neurons number in
each layer. Nevertheless, a hidden layer with 10 neurons has proven satisfying in the case of our
application. The network synaptic weights are adjusted on the base of training couples set,
representing examples that define possibilities of contours (rectilinear, circular, pointed, etc.). The
used training rule is the back-propagation.Once, the system converges and the fixed total error is
reached, the stage of training is finished and the network corresponding to the window is trained.
Then, we apply it on all the image. The state of the output neuron identifies the contour. We has
chosen 28 training couples representing cases of the most preponderant contours as shown in Fig. 1.

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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural Networks

Fig 1: Some cases of contours. Fig 2: The neural network architecture

Fig 3: Three-layer neural network used to classify welded defects

Thus, we has chosen the following architecture of the neural network

9 neurons in the input layer.
A hidden layer with 10 neurons.
An alone neuron in the output layer.

Fig. 2. illustrates the architecture of the network and the way of its application to the image.

2.2 Applications and results

The proposed approach is tested on X-ray images used in industrial radiography. We can remark that
for the X-ray image without noise as shown in Fig.4.a , the network extracts the different contours of
weld defects, which are put in obviousness (See Fig.4.b). These defects are represented by dark
stains with lengthened form that are positioned along the welded joint. Really, in the jargon of
interpreters in radiography, it concerns a lack of penetration. The image-contours emerges very well
the defect boundaries. This is not the case in Fig. 6.b . That is du essentially to the fact that the
defect-image in Fig.4.a is better contrasted than the one in Fig. 6.a This is why, in this case, the
application of contrast enhancement is recommended before the edge detection operation.

Fig 4

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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural Networks

Fig 6

Once, contours are extracted, they can present discontinuities. Then, we can use closing edge
algorithms in order to prepare the recognition and classification stages. On the other hand, we have
tested the network on noised images, as shown in Fig. 5.a . We ascertains that the network detects
the contours and eliminate the noise (See Fig. 5.b). Thus, the network plays the double role : edge
detection operator and noise filter. By there, we show the robustness of the proposed network
regarding the noise.

Fig 5

2.3. Conclusion
The obtained results show the effectiveness of using neural paradigms to detecting edges in X-ray
images which are used in Non Destructive Testing. It has therefore succeeded to deliver directly
contours of welding defects present in radiograms without the application of filtering techniques,
contrarily to classic edge detection operators. Indeed, the proposed neural segmentation technique
has provided satisfying results on noised or variable luminance images. However, the inconvenience of
this technique resides in its speed of execution that is slow enough. This is why, in this type of
applications, powerful and rapid computers are recommended. Currently, our work focuses on the
validation of the proposed approach by other neural models such as Kohonen and Hopfield ANNs.

3. Preliminary classification of defects based Ann

3.1Geometric invariant moments

Moments have been used as pattern features in a number of applications, to provide invariant
recognition of 2D image patterns.

The regular moments m pq of a digital image pattern represented by f(x,y) are defined as :

(3.1)

p,q = 0,1,2,..

Hu introduced moments as image recognition features. Using non-linear combinations of normalized

central moments, he derived a set of seven moments which has the desirable property of being
invariant under image translation, scaling and rotation. Specifically, the central moments that have the
property of translation invariance are given by :

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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural Networks

(3.2)

The following normalized central moments are invariant under a scale change :

(3.3)

p+q = 2,3, . . .

The following moments Æ 1 , Æ 2 , . . . ,Æ 7 , are invariant under translation, rotation and scaling :

(3.4)

We defined seven normalized values of Æ i (i=1,2,...,7) which are applied in the input layer of neural
network [11].

(3.5)

3.2. Neural network architecture

The conventional configuration for a multilayer neural network was used. This consists of an input
layer of nodes with one node for each feature vector, a hidden layer, and an output layer with one
node for each class. Each computational node (those in hidden and output layers) uses the sigmoid
transfer function.The network weights were found by the back-propagation of errors technique.
Pattern vectors were generated by computing the invariant moments of the defects and then
obtaining seven (7) values of moments (Æ' 1 , Æ' 2 , ... ,Æ' 7 ) of each defect. The resulting seven
moments were the inputs to the three layer feed-forward neural network shown in Fig.3.

The two neurons in the output layer correspond to the number of pattern classes (defect classes),
and the number of neurons in the middle layer was heuristically specified as 10 [12]. There are
unknown rules for specifying the number of nodes in the internal layers of a neural network, so this
number generally is based either on prior experience or simply chosen arbitrarily and then refined by
testing.

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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural Networks

3.3 Experimental results

We present results of combining the feature extraction technique by invariant moments and the neural
network classifier described above using the welded defect X-ray images.

A. Invariant moment performance

In order to show the invariance performance of the proposed moments, we have used a set of test
images representing a planer welded defect and a volumetric defect. Usual geometric transformations
(rotation, scale change, the combination of the both and mirror effect) are applied on these images.
Invariant moments are computed and compared between original images and their transforms. As
shown in Figs and Histograms 7, the results are in reasonable agreement. The major cause of error
can be attributed to the digital nature of the data.

B. Neural classifier performance

Initially, in he training process, the weights were initialized to small random values and the network
was trained with the invariant moments corresponding to the planer and volumetric defects shown in
Figs. 7. Each defect representation was assigned to a distinct output class. This set of couples
(invariant moments, corresponding defects) are chosen as training set. This choice is justified by the
fact that these defects can be considered as prototypes by referring to radiography interpreter
suggestion. After the training phase was completed, the ability of the ANN to recognize defects was
evaluated. The recognition phase was very simple for ANN and it consisted of only a feed-forward
pass of the information presented to the input layer. The testing set is composed in the first part, by
the transformed training defects by translation, rotation and scaling and in the second part by another
set of defects as shown in Fig 8, and their transformed by the above transformations.

Fig 7: Training set of the ANNs and invariant moment performance a. Planer defect
b. Volumetric defect

In the major classification problems, we are interested by the classification accuracy which
corresponds to the outperform classified defect-images into the test set, or to the misclassification
rate which corresponds to misclassified or non classified defects. In terms of classification accuracy,
the simulation results are very satisfying and the two-class classification is well accomplished for the
presented testing set. The results are summarized in Table 1.

Type of Testing set nb of tested defects nb of classified defects

Transformed Training set 9 9
Non trained set 20 19
Transformed non trained set 75 72
Table 1: Accuracy of defect classification

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Weld Defect Extraction and Classification in Radiographic Testing Based Artificial Neural Networks

Fig 8: Some tested defects from the testing set of the neural network

3.4. Conclusion
In this paper, artificial neural network based approach for the classification of 2D dimensional welded
defect images represented by translation, scale and rotation invariant region representation were
introduced. ANN approach employing supervised learning represented by a multilayer ANN was
utilized. The error back-propagation algorithm was used for the training of the multilayer ANN.
Through experimentation with the defect-images for the classification problem, we show the feasibility
of the proposed feature extraction and neural network paradigms, which are very promising in
radiography inspection of welding joints. Presently, the use of a large bank of defects (porosity, leak
of fusion, inclusions, etc.) as ANN training data is under investigation.

4. References

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techniques connexes, Nov.Dec. 1991.
3. N. Nacereddine, R. Drai & F. Abdat. Traitement numérique des images et reconnaissance des formes
par les réseaux de neurones artificiels en vue d'identification des défauts de soudures. Journées
scientifiques sur le soudage et le contrôle, 6,7 Nov. 1994 Hôtel Sofitel.
4. R.C. Gonzalez & R.E. Woods. Digital Image Processing, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
1993.
5. M.K. Hu. Visual Pattern Recognition by Moments Invariants. IRE Trans. Info. Theory, vol. IT-8,
pp. 179-187. 1962.
6. D. Rumelhart & J. McClelland. Parallel Distributed Processing, Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press. 1986.
7. E. D. Davalo & P. Naim. Des réseaux de neurones. Editions Eyrolles. 1990.
8. S. Ghosal & R. Mehrotra. Range Surface Characterization and Segmentation using Neural Networks.
Pattern Recognition, vol. 28, no. 5, pp 711-727. 1995.
9. R. Nekovei and Y. Sun. Back-Propagation Network and its Configuration for Blood Vessel Detection in
Angiograms. IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, vol. 6, no. 1, Jan. 1995.
10. N. Nacereddine, R. Drai & B.Heriouk. Artificial Neural Network and its configuration for weld defect
edge detection in X-ray images. IASTED International Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 28-31
Octobre. 1998.
11. C.H. Teh & R.T. Chin. On image analysis by the methods of moments. IEEE Trans. Pattern. Anal.
Machine Intell., vol. 10, pp. 496-512. 1988.
12. N. Nacereddine. Preliminary classification of weld defects in radiograms based neural networks.
IASTED International Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 28-31 Octobre. 1998.
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