ETRR-2 Neutron Radiography Facility

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ETRR-2 Neutron Radiography Facility

• T. Mongy
• Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) of Egypt,
• ETRR-2

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Contents

• 1- Introduction,
• 2- The Principle Setup for Radiography,
• 3- Use of Neutrons in NDT,
• 4- Imaging Techniques,
• 5- Description of ETRR-2 NR Facility and its
  Characterization parameters,
• 6- Applications of ETRR-2 NR Facility in
  Scientific Research
• 7- Conclusions.

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1- Introduction

• ? Radiography Writing with radiation
• ? Transforms invisible radiation (latent image)
  into visible images,
• ? Helps to detect invisible and hidden structures
  of
• objects.
• ? Become an important tool in many fields of
  scientific and technical relevance
  (Non-Destructive Testing) NDT.

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• ? Tomography is the process of reconstructing a
  three dimensional distribution of the attenuation
  coefficients in the volume from many two
  dimensional projections of the sample, taken at
  different angles.
• Figure (1) Neutron Tomography

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• Figure (2) Principle of Neutron Tomography

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2-The Principle Setup for Radiography

• Figure (3) Simplified arrangement for
  radiography investigations

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3- Use of neutrons in NDT

Figure (4) Neutron and X-rays mass attenuation
coefficient
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In contrast to x- rays as the major tool of
visual NDT, neutrons can (1) Be attenuated by
light materials like water, hydrocarbons, and
boron, (2) Penetrate through heavy materials like
steel, lead and uranium, (3) Distinguish between
different isotopes of certain elements, (4)
Supply high quality radiographs of highly
radioactive components.

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- The neutron radiographer is a person who
performs or personally supervises industrial
radiography with neutrons and is responsible for
ensuring compliance with national regulations and
the safe use of radioactive materials and neutron
beams and meets the established radiation
safety, testing, and experience criteria.

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4- Imaging Techniques
1- Film Based Imaging Direct Exposure
Technique
Indirect (Transfer) Technique

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2- Auto Radiography, 3- Dynamic System Neutron
Radiography.

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• 1- Film Based Imaging
• Direct Exposure Technique
• Figure (5) Direct method with photographic film

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1- Film Based Imaging C) Indirect Technique
(Transfer Technique) Figure (6) Transfer
method with photographic film

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2- Auto Radiography

Figure (7) Auto Radiography
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3- Dynamic System Neutron Radiography (Real Time
Neutron Radiography) Figure (8) Principle
set-up of a camera based neutron radiography
detector system

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5- Description of ETRR-2 Neutron Radiography (NR)
Facility and its Characterization Parameters

Figure (9) ETRR-2 NR facility geometric model
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- Characterization Parameters

• 1- Thermal flux 1.5 107 n/cm2 s,
• 2- nth/? ratio 0.1 106 n cm-2 mR-1
• 3- Cd ratio 10.26,
• 4- Resolution 0.188 mm,
• 5- Spatial resolution 0.2 mm,
• 5- L/D ratio (Collimation Ratio) 117.3

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6- Applications of ETRR-2 NR Facilityin
Scientific Research
? M. Sc. in Commissioning of ETRR-2 NR Facility
and its Characterization Parameters (2003),

? Ph. D. in Imaging Enhancement by Scattered
Thermal Neutrons Deblurring in ETRR-2 NR
Facility, (2007),
? Ph. D. in Water Permeability in Concrete
(Zagazig University),
? Ph. D. in Quantitative Hydrogenous Components
Measurement by Recoil Protons (Alexandria
University).
? M. Sc. in NDT by Neutrons (Alexandria
University).
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6- Applications of ETRR-2 NR Facilityin
Scientific Research

1. Study of Water Migration in Construction Porous
   Materials

The ability of concrete to withstand the
penetration of liquid and oxygen (durability of
concrete) can be investigated by NR. The
porosity, sorptivity (the rate of movement of a
waterfront through a porous medium under
capillary action) and permeability of concrete
can be studied by NR. To improve the durability
of concrete, the capillary and pore size within
the concrete complex must be restricted to a
minimum by adding chemical additive.
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• Figure (10) Study of the evolution of water
  distribution profiles during the water migration
  in porous concrete.

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(2) Imaging of Infiltration, Root Growth and Root
Water Uptake via N R

Fig. (11) Water distribution in the plant root
water uptake is not uniform but rather is
localized in a certain region.
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(3) N R Inspection of Investment Casting Imaging
the presence of casting voids and cracks in
metallic structures

Figure (12) Neutron radiography (A) and X-ray
radiography (B) of cast iron broken flange, the
porosities and thickness variation are not
manifested when radiographed by X-ray
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• (4) NR in defects and internals detection
• 
  
  B
• C
• 
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  Defect
• Figure (13) Real photo (A), neutron radiography
  (B) and X-ray radiography (C) of defective ball
  bearing

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• (4) NR in defects and internals detection
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
  
• Figure (14) Real photo of stainless steel lock

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(4) NR in defects and internals detection

Figure (15) Neutron radiography (A) and X-ray
radiography (B) of stainless steel lock. Welding
defect is pronounced in imaging by neutrons.
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(4) NR in defects and internals detection







Figure (16) Neutron radiography (A) and X-ray
radiography (B) of non-return valve. The ability
of X-rays to penetrate heavy copper body is
insufficient to detect internals

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(5) NR in Culture Heritage






Figure (17)
Neutron Autoradiography in culture heritage.

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Figure (18) Exposure of high sensitive x-ray film
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Figure (19) Baptism of a Child
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Figure (20) Auto Neutron
Radiography of Baptism of a Child
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Figure (21) Auto Neutron Radiography
Investigation of Baptism of a Child
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Figure (22) Auto Neutron Radiography
Investigation of Baptism of a Child
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7- Conclusions
? Neutron Radiography (NR) is a challenger
competitive tool in NDT techniques, and is the
rising promising technique in the field. ? It
provides detail information could not be
obtainable by the most traditional techniques.
? NR is a useful non-destructive method for
monitoring of transport processes of moisture and
hydrogenous liquids in porous building materials
to improve the quality of building materials
using water resistant additives. ? The NR
technique can be employed to visualize cracks in
concrete.

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• ? Recognition of internal structure of unknown
  objects with quantitative NR,
• NR is powerful in scientific research such as
• - Visualization of fluid phenomena in a metallic
  vessel,
• - Visualization study of molten metalwater
  interaction,
• - Monitoring the water absorption by capillarity
  in porous materials,
• Visualization of cavitation phenomena in a
  diesel engine fuel
• injection nozzle,
• Measure changes in water content of plant
  material,
• - Studies objects from cultural heritage.

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Thank you for Attention