Most stockists pass steel through. We test it. Each bar that leaves GIDC Kathwada has been ultrasonically examined to ASTM A388 under ASNT Level II competence and ships with a Material Test Certificate plus a UT pass report. The whole point is that you should never start machining from steel you can't trust.
There is nothing exotic on this list. Each step is what a serious stockist should be doing. What is unusual is that we do all six in-house and document them on paper that ships with the bar.
Forty years of trade tells us which mills produce clean, consistent material on a given grade. We buy from sources whose heat-number paperwork actually matches what arrives — and reject what doesn't.
Every consignment is checked against the mill certificate — grade marking, dimensions, surface condition and documentation are verified before bars are accepted into stock.
Bars are ultrasonically examined to ASTM A388 — straight-beam and, where required, angle-beam pulse-echo — to detect inclusions, porosity, central cavities and cracks before dispatch.
UT inspection, interpretation and reporting are carried out under ASNT SNT-TC-1A Level II competence — the personnel qualification framework recognised internationally for non-destructive testing.
Every consignment ships with a Material Test Certificate (chemical composition and mechanical properties) and a UT pass report — both keyed to the heat number, equivalent to EN 10204 Type 3.1.
Cutting is done on five automatic CNC saws up to 600 mm, with each blank measured before pack-out. Your shop floor starts the day with bars sized correctly, not roughly.
An ultrasonic examination is not a button-press. Done properly, it has five distinct steps — and any one of them can change the disposition of a bar.
Bars are cleaned to a smooth, clean cylindrical surface so the probe couples acoustically with the steel and sound waves transmit without scatter. A poor surface masks defects — there is no shortcut here.
A388 §6 · contact surface, free of scale and loose mill finish
The pulse-echo instrument is calibrated against reference blocks of the same grade and similar dimensions. Sensitivity, gain and DGS (Distance Gain-Size) curves are set so any indication can be compared like-for-like.
Pulse-echo · linear screen presentation · DGS method per A388 Appendix X3
A normal-beam probe is moved across the bar with a thin couplant film. Sound travels radially through the section and reflects from the opposite wall — the "backwall echo." A clean, full-height backwall and a silent screen between the initial pulse and the backwall is the signature of sound material.
Normal probe · radial scan · backwall echo monitored
For sections where defects could lie at an angle to the bar axis — particularly forgings and large rounds — an angle-beam probe (typically 45° or 60°) is added. Sound enters obliquely, reflecting from any oriented discontinuity the straight beam might miss.
Angle probe · oriented defect detection · A388 §10 supplementary
Indications are sized and compared against acceptance criteria. Bars are accepted, accepted with restricted use, re-tested, or rejected. The UT report is countersigned under Level II competence and travels with the bar to dispatch.
Indication evaluation · accept / reject · UT report issued
A clean surface tells you nothing about what is inside the bar. These are the four classes of defect UT screens out — every one of them a real failure mode in service.
Oxides, sulphides or slag particles trapped during steelmaking — fatigue-initiation sites in bearings, gears and shafts.
Microscopic gas pockets that reduce effective cross-section and can grow under cyclic load.
Sub-surface cracking from forging, cooling or hydrogen — invisible to the eye, catastrophic in service.
Pipe, central cavities or segregation along the bar axis — particularly common in large forged sections.
An MTC and a UT pass report — keyed to the same heat number, signed under Level II competence, ready for your incoming inspection. This is what an actual Saroj test certificate looks like.
Every certificate references the mill heat number, so the bar in your shop can be traced back to the exact batch of steel it was rolled or forged from. No floating "material certified" claims — a real chain you can audit.
Actual measured values for C, Si, Mn, Ni, Cr, Mo and tensile / yield / elongation / hardness — not generic "as per spec" wording. This is what EN 10204 Type 3.1 means: specific inspection of the lot supplied.
Method, probe configuration, coupling, indications and disposition all stated. ACCEPTED — UT PASS is the only stamp that ships product. Anything else is held or rejected.
The certificate is countersigned by our quality function, independent of production — the structural requirement that lifts a document from "test report" to a valid EN 10204 3.1-equivalent inspection certificate.
For applications that require third-party witnessed inspection (offshore, defence, high-criticality pressure equipment), we can arrange an EN 10204 Type 3.2 equivalent with an independent inspector co-signing. Specify on the inquiry; we will confirm scope and lead time.
Where buyers' QA teams look, we have already looked. These are the international standards our testing, certification and traceability map to.
If, six months from now, you need to know exactly which heat your shaft came from, the answer is one phone call. That is what traceability actually means.
Heat number assigned at the steel mill
Mill Test Certificate received
Verified into stock at Kathwada
ASTM A388 inspection logged
Heat no. carried onto cut pieces
MTC + UT report with goods
Bearings are the textbook fatigue-driven part. A single 50 µm inclusion can cause spalling in service. UT verifies internal cleanliness before the bar reaches a grinder.
Large-section EN24 (>100 mm) can carry central unsoundness from the forging or cooling stage. UT screens for the central-pipe and segregation issues that ordinary inspection misses.
Forging refines grain but does not guarantee soundness. A388 was written for exactly this material — pulse-echo UT, straight and angle beam, full radial coverage.
Tool steel goes straight into expensive tooling. An undetected internal crack in a die block becomes a thrown insert at the press. UT verification is cheap insurance.
Carburised gears are loaded in rolling contact. Subsurface defects in the case-core boundary are precisely where pitting starts. UT helps keep them out.
Even the everyday workhorse benefits. A 95 mm hardened-and-tempered EN19 shaft holds up better when the bar started clean — and the customer's incoming inspection has the document to prove it.
ASTM A388 is the international standard practice for ultrasonic examination of steel forgings. It defines pulse-echo ultrasonic inspection using straight-beam and angle-beam techniques to detect internal defects such as inclusions, cracks, voids and porosity. Saroj Enterprise performs ultrasonic examination to ASTM A388 on every consignment, in-house, under ASNT Level II competence.
A Material Test Certificate (MTC) — also called a Mill Test Report (MTR) — is a quality document that certifies the chemical composition, mechanical properties, heat-treatment condition and traceability of a steel product. Every consignment from us ships with an MTC equivalent to EN 10204 Type 3.1: specific test results from the actual heat supplied, validated by our quality function independent of production.
ASNT Level II is a personnel qualification standard for non-destructive testing under the American Society for Nondestructive Testing's SNT-TC-1A recommended practice. A Level II UT inspector is competent to set up and calibrate ultrasonic equipment, perform examinations, interpret indications, evaluate them against acceptance criteria, and report results. All UT inspections at Saroj Enterprise are carried out and reported under Level II competence.
Bars made from forged or large rolled stock can contain internal defects — inclusions, porosity or central cavities — that are invisible from the surface but become crack-initiation sites in service. This is especially critical for bearing steels (EN31), large shafts (EN24), forged rounds and tool / die blocks. UT screens for these defects so the bar is verified sound before it ever reaches your machine shop.
Yes — always, with no extra request. Every consignment ships with both a Material Test Certificate (chemical composition and mechanical properties) and a UT pass report. Both reference the heat number and bar/lot identification, giving you complete traceability.
Yes. If your application or QA system requires it, we can arrange additional testing — including third-party witnessed inspection (EN 10204 Type 3.2 equivalent), tighter UT acceptance criteria, hardness or hardness-traverse testing, or supplementary chemical analysis. Specify the requirement on your inquiry and we'll confirm scope, cost and lead time before order confirmation.
An MTC documents the material's chemical composition and mechanical properties; a UT report documents the ultrasonic examination findings; an EN 10204 3.1 certificate describes the document format — specifically, an inspection certificate with specific test results from the lot supplied, validated by a quality function independent of production. Our paperwork delivers all three on the same document, keyed to the same heat number.
Share your grade, size and quantity. Quote, cutting and certificates handled together.
