[charlie]

In my long career I was involved with all aspects of testing, inspection and quality control including destructive Testing. We did not have any formal certification but we had to ensure that each test was as per a national / international standard specified in the individual specifications – for example tensile testing as per ASTM – E8. The tensile testing machine has to be calibrated again as per the relevant ASTM specification…..that means each test has to be carried out as per user specified specification and the equipment has to be certified (internally or by a third party).

However, if you are planning to use your testing laboratory for carrying out lot of third party testing, you may need a formal certification from the national accreditation bureau. In India, we have NABL (National Accreditation Bureau for Laboratories) – who check all aspects of the lab and certify it.

The NDT Level III certification has no value or relevance as far as mechanical / destructive testing is concerned…

Best regards