X-Ray and Neutron Radiography for Quantitative Material Reconstructions

Andrew J. Gilbert; Luke W. Campbell; Nikhil Deshmukh; Paul A. Hausladen; Matthew Heath; Dustin M. Kasparek; Lauren A. Misurek; Paul B. Rose; Kyle T. Schmitt

doi:10.1109/TNS.2025.3572420

X-Ray and Neutron Radiography for Quantitative Material Reconstructions

Andrew J. Gilbert, Luke W. Campbell, Nikhil Deshmukh, Paul A. Hausladen, Matthew Heath, Dustin M. Kasparek, Lauren A. Misurek, Paul B. Rose, Kyle T. Schmitt

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Radiography is a powerful tool to determine the interior structure of objects. X-ray radiography is widely used and provides high-resolution images though X-rays have limited transmission through materials of high atomic number (Z) and density. In contrast, neutrons can penetrate many materials that are heavily attenuating to X-rays, such as metals, providing contrast in the inner layers of highly attenuating items. Past work has shown the value of using both X-ray and neutron radiography for estimating material thicknesses though that work was limited to simulated data. Here, we demonstrate quantitative material reconstructions using experimental X-ray and neutron radiography data from laboratory-based systems, accurately modeling radiography system responses to within a few percent to enable quantitative measures of material thickness. We demonstrate the utility of neutron radiography and X-ray radiography for these quantitative reconstructions and introduce methods for using their complementarity to improve image quality and optimize experimental design.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2183-2193
Number of pages	11
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
Volume	72
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2025.3572420
State	Published - 2025

Funding

Received 22 April 2025; revised 14 May 2025; accepted 16 May 2025. Date of publication 21 May 2025; date of current version 18 July 2025. This work was supported by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development within the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. The document release number for this publication is PNNL SA-204523. (Corresponding author: Andrew J. Gilbert.) Andrew J. Gilbert, Luke W. Campbell, Nikhil Deshmukh, and Dustin M. Kasparek are with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). This work was supported by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development within the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. The document release number for this publication is PNNL SA-204523.

Keywords

Algorithms
imaging
neutron radiography
nondestructive evaluation
radiography
scatter

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10.1109/TNS.2025.3572420

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title = "X-Ray and Neutron Radiography for Quantitative Material Reconstructions",

abstract = "Radiography is a powerful tool to determine the interior structure of objects. X-ray radiography is widely used and provides high-resolution images though X-rays have limited transmission through materials of high atomic number (Z) and density. In contrast, neutrons can penetrate many materials that are heavily attenuating to X-rays, such as metals, providing contrast in the inner layers of highly attenuating items. Past work has shown the value of using both X-ray and neutron radiography for estimating material thicknesses though that work was limited to simulated data. Here, we demonstrate quantitative material reconstructions using experimental X-ray and neutron radiography data from laboratory-based systems, accurately modeling radiography system responses to within a few percent to enable quantitative measures of material thickness. We demonstrate the utility of neutron radiography and X-ray radiography for these quantitative reconstructions and introduce methods for using their complementarity to improve image quality and optimize experimental design.",

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AU - Heath, Matthew

AU - Kasparek, Dustin M.

AU - Misurek, Lauren A.

AU - Rose, Paul B.

AU - Schmitt, Kyle T.

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AB - Radiography is a powerful tool to determine the interior structure of objects. X-ray radiography is widely used and provides high-resolution images though X-rays have limited transmission through materials of high atomic number (Z) and density. In contrast, neutrons can penetrate many materials that are heavily attenuating to X-rays, such as metals, providing contrast in the inner layers of highly attenuating items. Past work has shown the value of using both X-ray and neutron radiography for estimating material thicknesses though that work was limited to simulated data. Here, we demonstrate quantitative material reconstructions using experimental X-ray and neutron radiography data from laboratory-based systems, accurately modeling radiography system responses to within a few percent to enable quantitative measures of material thickness. We demonstrate the utility of neutron radiography and X-ray radiography for these quantitative reconstructions and introduce methods for using their complementarity to improve image quality and optimize experimental design.

KW - Algorithms

KW - imaging

KW - neutron radiography

KW - nondestructive evaluation

KW - radiography

KW - scatter

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ER -

X-Ray and Neutron Radiography for Quantitative Material Reconstructions

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