Dry developer composition for dye penetrant inspection and method for employing same

A method for detecting cracks and flaws in the surface of an object, which comprises applying to said surface a water washable biodegradable dye penetrant composition which consists essentially of (1) a biodegradable nonionic surfactant selected from the group consisting of (a) straight chain, primary, aliphatic oxyalkylated alcohols, wherein said alcohols can contain from 8 to 20 carbon atoms and the oxyalkyl groups are a mixture of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide groups, and (b) ethoxylates of linear secondary aliphatic alcohols, with the hyroxyl groups randomly distributed, the linear aliphatic portion of said alcohols being a mixture of alkyl chains containing in the range from 10 to 17 carbon atoms, and containing an average of from 3 to 12 moles of ethylene oxide and (2) a small amount of a dye soluble in said surfactant, removing said dye penetrant composition from said surface without removing liquid dye penetrant from said cracks and flaws in said surface, applying to said surface a dry developer composition consisting essentially of about 25 to about 65% talc and about 35 to about 75% of fumed silica, by weight, said fumed silica having a particle size less than the particle size of said talc, said dye penetrant composition in said cracks and flaws being converted to a gel when contacted with said developer composition, removing excess developer and viewing the surface of said object under lighting conditions to obtain colored traces from the dye in said cracks and flaws.