Quantitative Studies of Pyrocarbon - Coated A...

Quantitative Studies of Pyrocarbon - Coated Alumina Microspheres Using Synchrotron Radiation

Author Name : Poonamlata S. Yadav

ABSTRACT: Phase contrast imaging technique is a new X-ray imaging modality. This provides considerable additional information in the image compared to conventional X-ray imaging methods, which rely solely on X-ray absorption by the sample. Phase-contrast imaging highlights edges and internal boundaries of a sample and is thus complementary to absorption contrast, which is more sensitive to the bulk of the sample. Phase-contrast can also be used to image low-density materials, which do not absorb X-rays sufficiently to form a conventional X-ray image. In this paper, experimental results on in-line phase-contrast imaging using a synchrotron source for objects required in material science applications are discussed. Experiments have been carried out on pyrocarbon-coated alumina microspheres at energy of 16 keV with different object to detector distances. This has applications in both reactor and industrial fields. This paper shows that X-ray phase contrast can become an alternative tool for non-destructive characterization of these materials.