X-ray tomographe

Tomography is an image technique that allows non-destructive analysis of the microstructure of materials. Tomography provides a three-dimensional image from a series of 2D radiographs via reconstruction.

From the visualization of the internal microstructure of  materials it is possible to apprehend the phenomena occurring at the core of the material. This is the case of a crack, whose visible behavior in skin is insufficient for the understanding of the internal behavior; or ductile damage that originates in the core of the sample without a trace visible on the surface.

Tomography in materials sciences  can be deployed to obtain the microstructures in 3D as well as the distribution of the components of the materials. In particular, it is possible to visualize internal defects such as cracks, microbubbles, and evolving porosity of a material.

The information provided by tomography can be used to hypothesis testing in experimental and numerical investigations, in the validation of numerical models developed in the simulation and design phases without prototype.

Main technical features :

• X-ray Tomographe: The installed device was designed (and customized for the lab) by North Star Imaging (NSI). It consists of a shielded protection cabinet up to 250 kV, a 5-axis manipulator, a 225 kV dual-head cooled X-ray tube (reflection and transmission), a last-generation plan detector (3072 × 3888 pixels, 14 bits, 26 frames / second at full resolution) equipped with a cesium scintillator.
• A software developed by NSI supports image acquisition, image processing, and 3D reconstruction.
• This device receives dedicated in-situ mechanical testing means.

Sample preparation :

• Tomography provides information on unprocessed materials, without destruction, and in a complete view from the outside to the center without physical cut.
• Different sample sizes (from a few mm to a few cm) of different types of materials (advanced composites, biosourced materials, cementitious materials) were tested to date.