Neutron radiography

What is NDT?
Neutrons, like X-rays and gamma rays, pass through solid material and with suitable conversion screens can produce an electronic or
photographic image similar in nature to those produced in X-radiography.
X-rays, being electromagnetic waves, react primarily with the electron shells of elements and are increasingly attenuated as the number of
electrons (atomic number) and the density increases.
Neutrons, being neutral particles of very large mass compared to electrons, react primarily with the nucleus of elements; the interaction varies
even between isotopes of the same element and the attenuation characteristic is largely unrelated to atomic number. Low-energy neutrons in
particular (so called thermal and cold neutrons with energies less than 0.025 eV) demonstrate very different and at times complementary
characteristics to X-rays, being very strongly absorbed by hydrogen, boron, cadmium, gadolinium and a few other elements, but not by the
common engineering metals (including aluminium, iron and lead). This means that by thermal neutron radiography, small amounts of
hydrogenous material such as corrosion products, oil, water, explosive and plastic materials can be detected inside metal assemblies.
Neutron radiography is used to detect corrosion products and examine complex castings (such as turbine blades), explosive fillings (and
particularly for continuity in detonator cords), nuclear fuel elements, adhesive bonds and quality assurance checks for assembly of critical
components (such as those used in space applications).
Sources of neutrons for radiography are:
a) Atomic reactors
b) Particle accelerators
c) Radioisotopes (notably 252Californium).
The most intense sources are reactors but proton and heavier ion accelerators of even modest energies (as low as 3 MeV) can be used to
generate intense beams of neutrons, which can be used to provide good quality radiographs and electronic images. Real-time imaging,
stereoscopy and tomography are within the capability of some of these small accelerators (see: Real-time radiography).
Some work is underway to provide mobile systems for operation at dispersed sites.

***************** RT Study Guide Level III

Second Edition *****************************

Neutron Radiography

Basic Principles
Neutron radiography is a nondestructive testing
technique similar but complementary to conventional
radiography. Like other forms of energy, the penetrating
radiation can be studied to reveal clues about the internal
structure of the object. Whereas the attenuation of X-rays in
materials increases with increasing atomic number of the
absorbing material, the mass attenuation coefficients of the
elements for thermal neutrons, if arranged in order of
increasing atomic number of the absorber, appear almost
completely random.
This apparently random distribution of attenuation
coefficients with atomic number occurs because neutron
absorption does not depend on the electron structure of the atom
as does the absorption of X-rays, but on interaction with the
atomic nucleus. As a result, certain light elements such as
hydrogen, lithium and boron, and some rare earth elements such
as gadolinium, dysprosium and indium have high or very high
thermal neutron absorption.1
The ability to image low atomic number materials in the presence of a
high atomic number matrix can be of considerable interest in a variety of
industries. Rubber, plastic or wood can be observed in specimens made of
steel, aluminum or lead. The hydrogenous explosive charge can be seen inside
a brass shell casing. Fluid levels can be seen inside high atomic number
containers such as steel or lead. Corrosion and water entrapment can easily be
seen inside metal structures such as honeycomb aircraft assemblies.

radiography outweighs the disadvantages. Even though neutron

radiography service centers have been available for many years, the
has been no inhouse neutron radiography available at any general
service, commercial nondestructive testing center. The interested us
is therefore advised to seek a current supplier of neutron radiograph
services.

Neutron Energies and Sources

It is usual to group neutrons into four categories:
1. fast neutrons with energies exceeding
1.1 MeV,
2 epithermal neutrons with energies in the range of 0.3 to
102 eV,
3 thermal neutrons with energies in the range of 0.01 to 0.3
eV,
4 cold neutrons with energies in the range of 0.0 to 0.01 eV
Neutrons can be produced from various sources,
1-Nuclear reactors,
2- Accelerators and
3- Radioactive isotopes. spontaneous
fission from Cf252

Most practical neutron radiography has been performed

using
a nuclear reactor. Reactors are prolific sources of
Because neutron interactions involve nuclei rather than the
neutrons
and the beams generated are rich in thermal
orbiting electrons, certain elemental compositions can be
neutrons.
differentiated by neutrons that would not be possible with
Accelerators generate neutrons by positive ion
photon radiography. For example, U-235 can be imaged in the
bombardment
of selected materials. These produce a moderate
presence of U-238.
intensity with medium resolution and have the advantage of onoff operation.
Isotopic sources have been used for many years for a variety
Disadvantages
of applications,
Disadvantages of neutron radiography include the high cost and
however, the thermal neutron intensities that can be achieved
relatively large size of the source assemblies, which combined become
from such sources ( CF-252 ) tend to be low especially when
a major limitation -no really portable or inexpensive system is
compared to that from a reactor.
available. In addition, certain materials become radioactive when
On the basis of technical performance,
exposed to neutrons and there are personnel protection concerns
spontaneous fission from Cf-252 is the most
associated with neutrons. Nevertheless, equipment is available and in
attractive isotopic source for neutron
certain circumstances, the unique information provided by neutron
radiography.
in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings at, or near, room
Because slower neutrons are usually desired for
temperature.
radiography, this energy must be dissipated through
numerous collisions with nuclei in the host material. The
These Thermal neutrons have a higher probability of
transformation from fast neutrons to slow neutrons is
interaction with the specimen's material than higher energy
achieved by a moderating material.
neutrons, and are therefore most often used for radiography.
Its presence produces a slowing down of the fast neutrons
by elastic scattering collisions (between the moderator
nuclei and the neutrons) until the average kinetic energy of
the neutrons is the same as that of the moderator nuclei.
Thermal neutrons are also called /used because they are

Because the source of neutrons is a dispersed volume, rather

than a point source, it is necessary to use a collimator between the
source and the object.
Many types of collimators have been designed and used
including :

1- point source, parallel wall

2- divergent beam collimator schemes.
The most frequently used design uses divergent beam
geometry.
Although divergent collimators are similar to point source
geometry, they are generally used to extract a beam from a relatively
large moderator assembly. Therefore, walls are required to limit the
background radiation from reaching the image plane. Limiting the
background radiation is generally as important as geometric
collimation for obtaining good quality radiographs.

Besides static radiography with thermal neutrons,

there are also specialized neutron radiography techniques for
which different energies may be selected. These include
neutron computed tomography, dynamic neutron imaging,
high frame rate neutron imaging, neutron induced
autoradiography and neutron gaging.

Neutron Imaging
Images from neutron radiography are obtained in two
principal ways:
1- direct method, the film is actually present in the
neutron beam during exposure and involves
converting the transmitted portion of the neutron
beam into a type of radiation that will expose a
photographic emulsion.
2- indirect, or transfer method, the film exposure is
made by autoradiography of a radioactive, image
carrying metal screen.
The two techniques are illustrated in Figure 12.1.
Direct sensitivity of film to neutrons is relatively low.
Therefore, conversion or intensifying screens are used
with both techniques.
For the direct exposure method these screens increase the
detector response by the emission of radiation that the
adjacent film is sensitive to.

The most widely used detection method for industrial neutron

radiography is the direct exposure technique with a gadolinium
conversion screen.
For the indirect method, the screens are chosen from materials that
tend to become radioactive upon thermal neutron exposure.
Indium or gadolinium screens used for indirect neutron
radiography give clearer neutron images and are less susceptible to
interference by other radiation.
However, the indirect technique is much slower than the direct. A
thin film or foil of an element with a high neutron absorption cross
section is exposed to the transmitted neutron beam. The foil is then
removed from behind the specimen and placed on radiographic film
in a remote location.
The film is exposed by decay of the radioactive nuclei produced by
neutron capture. Elements such as indium, gadolinium, silver,
rhodium, gold and dysprosium are useful for the indirect technique.
The indirect technique does provide excellent discrimination against
gamma photons from neutron sources or from the object.
A comparison of the two general classes of film detection methods
shows that indirect techniques yield high contrast images with
no gamma interference.
Direct exposure methods, on the other hand, provide much
faster results and have yielded much better spatial resolution.

Dynamic Neutron Radiography

The development of dynamic (real time) neutron radiography
capitalized on the availability of very high intensity steady state
neutron beams and very high frame rate video cameras used with
rapid response neutron sensitive scintillator screens. Various services
are available that provide frame rates that range from 30 frames per
second (real time motion display similar to television) to 1000 or
even 10 000 frames per second.

Subthermal Neutron Radiography

The neutron attenuation coefficient of a material can change significantly as the neutron energy is changed. The pattern of
this variation also changes abruptly from one element to another. Therefore, selection of different energies provides
possibilities for quite different neutron radiography penetration and contrast. The effect of using subthermal energy is
typically to increase the transparency of certain materials while simultaneously increasing the detectability of hydrogenous
materials.

Epithermal and Fast Neutron Radiography

A reactor beam, though consisting primarily of thermal neutrons, will contain a portion of both subthermal and epithermal
neutrons. With a filter such as cadmium, the thermal and subthermal neutrons can be removed and only the epithermal part of
the neutron energy spectrum will be transmitted. The term fast neutron radiography refers normally to those neutron energies
yielded by an unmoderated accelerator source or a radioactive source. Fast neutron radiography provides high penetration but
little contrast between elements.

Neutron Computed Tomography

Computed axial tomography has been developed for neutron radiography and can provide detailed cross sectional slices
of the object to be analyzed. While the information provided is unique to the neutron interaction with the specimen's
material, the principles are similar to those of X-ray computed tomography.

Neutron Gaging
Neutron gaging is the measurement of attenuation of a collimated, small diameter beam of radiation as it is transmitted
through a specimen. It has been used for static gaging of discrete assemblies and for continuous scanning of long objects for
acceptable uniformity. The gaging technique can test items of greater thickness than can be tested with neutron radiography.