What should be ensured during the penetrant removal operation to prevent removing penetrant from discontinuities?

During the penetrant removal operation, it is crucial to ensure that excess penetrant is sufficiently removed to prevent impediments to the underlying indications of discontinuities. This means that while the excess penetrant needs to be cleaned away, care must be taken to avoid disturbing the penetrant that may have accumulated in cracks or other defects.

If too much of the penetrant from the discontinuities is removed, critical information about flaws in the material can be lost, potentially leading to undetected defects. Therefore, a balanced approach is necessary: excess penetrant should be cleaned, while still ensuring that penetrant trapped within any defects remains intact, allowing for accurate inspection after the process.

Using a solvent-dampened cloth or rubbing the surface dry could lead to the risk of unintentionally removing penetrant from the defects themselves. Applying additional penetrant is not relevant to the removal process, as it doesn't pertain to cleaning off excess without disrupting the indications. Thus, carefully managing the removal of excess penetrant is key to a successful inspection.