title: Quantitative studies of pyrocarbon-coated materials using synchrotron radiation.
abstract: Phase-contrast imaging provides enhanced image contrast and is important for non-destructive evaluation of structural materials. In this paper, experimental results on in-line phase-contrast imaging using a synchrotron source (ELETTRA, Italy) for objects required in material science applications are discussed. Experiments have been carried out on two types of samples, pyrocarbon-coated zirconia and pyrocarbon-coated alumina microspheres. These have applications in both reactor and industrial fields. The phase-contrast imaging technique is found to be very useful in visualizing and determining the coating thickness of pyrocarbon on zirconia and alumina microspheres. The experiments were carried out at X-ray energies of 16, 18 and 20 keV and different object-to-detector distances. The results describe the contrast values and signal-to-noise ratio for both samples. A comprehensive study was carried out to determine the thickness of the pyrocarbon coating on zirconia and alumina microspheres of diameter 500 microm. The advantages of phase-contrast images are discussed in terms of contrast and resolution, and a comparison is made with absorption images. The results show considerable improvement in contrast with phase-contrast imaging as compared with absorption radiography.
authors: Laser and Neutron Physics Section, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India. poonamly@barc.gov.in
authors: Poonamlata S
authors: PS
authors: Yadav
authors: Y S
authors: YS
authors: Kashyap
authors: Tushar
authors: T
authors: Roy
authors: P S
authors: PS
authors: Sarkar
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Sinha