Proceedings of the Second World Conference, Paris, France, June 16-20, 1986

Neutron radiography represents a powerful non-destructive testing technique that is still very much in development. The book reveals the amazing diversity of scientific and industrial applications of this technique, the advancements of the state-of-art neutron facilities, the latest method developments, and the expected future of neutron imaging.

Neutron radiography is a non-destructive analysis tool that complements X-ray transmission radiography. The use of neutrons provides the ability to image the interior of an object that has a metal core of steel or lead that would shield the interior from X-ray inspection. Neutron tomography is the use of a set of images of a single sample taken at various angles to produce a three dimensional rendition of the sample that greatly increases the effectiveness of neutron radiography as a non-destructive testing tool. A neutron radiography and tomography system has been built at the 1.1 MW TRIGA Mark II nuclear research reactor at The University of Texas at Austin in the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab. The Texas Neutron Imaging Facility is located on beam port five of the reactor and is housed in a shielding cave made of concrete to minimize radiation dose to users. The system itself integrates a sample positioning system and neutron sensitive camera through the use of a control code written in National Instruments Labview software. The code was written to increase the efficiency of the imaging process and to provide flexibility in the system. Precise sample positioning and timing of image acquisition provided by the code allows for the collection of data that can be used in computed tomography. The system has produced results in the form of radiographs and 3-D reconstructions of sample objects.

Radiography with neutrons can yield important information not obtainable by more traditional methods. In contrast to X-rays as the major tool of visual non-destructive testing, neutrons can be attenuated by light materials like water, hydrocarbons, boron, penetrate through heavy materials like steel, lead, uranium, distinguish between different isotopes of certain elements, supply high quality radiographs of highly radioactive components. These advantages have led to multiple applications of neutron radiography since 1955, both for non-nuclear and nuclear problems of quality assurance. The required neutron beams originate from radioisotopic sources, accelerator targets, or research reactors. Energy "tailoring" which strongly influences the interaction with certain materials adds to the versatility of the method. Since about 1970 norms and standards have been introduced and reviewed both in Europe (Birmingham, September 1973) and the United States (Gaithersburg, February 1975). The first world conference on neutron radiography will take place in December 1981, in San Diego, U.S.A. . In Europe the interested laboratories inside the European Community have entered into systematic collaboration through the Neutron Radiography Working Group (NRWGl. since May 1979. This Handbook has been compiled as one of the common tasks undertaken by the Group. Its principal authors are J.C. Domanus (Ris0 National Laboratory). and R.S. Matfield (Joint Research Centre, Ispra) Major contributions have been received from R. Liesenborgs (SCK/CEN Mol) R. Barbalat (CEN Saclayl.

Proceedings of the Third World Conference held in Osaka, Japan, May 14-18, 1989