One concern with Ultra High Pressure Waterjetting (UHP-WJ) of steel components is the
development of flash rust shortly after UHP-WJ is completed. There is a visual standard,
SSPC VIS-4/Nace VIS-7, for inspectors to use when evaluating the density or level of flash
rust. However this standard is very subjective and often leaves inspectors second guessing
themselves as to whether the flash rust is too heavy to paint over. The present paper
describes the development of a proto-type hand-held field device which can be potentially
used for characterizing the level of flash rust in a non-subjective manner.