Imaging applications plants

The advent of a portable source of very high energy x-rays has opened up x-ray inspection possibilities in a wide range of environments. Applications include such fields as nuclear waste containers, bridges, nuclear and fossil power plants, surface and airborne transportation systems, space launch systems and other thick section NDT and other inspection problems that cannot be solved imaged using other NDT methods. 

One more application area is composite materials where one wants to investigate the 3D structure and/or reaction to external influences. Fig.3a shows a shadow image of a block of composite material. It consists of an epoxy matrix with glass fibers. The reconstructed cross-sections, shown in Fig.3b, clearly show the fiber displacement inside the matrix. The sample can be loaded in situ to investigate the reaction of matrix and fibers to external strain. Also absorption and transmission by liquids can be visualized directly in three-dimensions. This method has been applied to the study of oil absorption in plastic granules and water collection inside artificial plant grounds. 

Pope, J.M., Rumpel, H., Kuhn, W., Walker, R., Leach, D. and Sarafis, V. (1 991) Applications of chemical-shift-selective NMR microscopy to the non-invasive histochemistry of plant materials. Magnetic Resonance Imaging 9(3), 357-363. 

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