DEVELOPMENT OF A NEUTRON COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEM AT THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Open Access
- Author:
- Shi, Liang
- Graduate Program:
- Nuclear Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- July 28, 2016
- Committee Members:
- Jack Brenizer Jr., Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jack Brenizer Jr., Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Matthew M Mench, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dr Kenan ÜNl¨¹, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- imaging system resolution
Neutron tomography
MTF
polymer electrolytic fuel cells
neutron imaging - Abstract:
- Neutron tomography has been proved to be a powerful tool in the non-destructive testing and many other engineering application fields. Compared to x- rays, neutrons can be attenuated by some light materials, i.e. hydrogen, but can penetrate many heavy materials. Thus, neutron tomography has been extensively used to obtain the sample¡¯s interior structure and material properties that other traditional methods can not provide. A neutron computed tomography system was installed at the Pennsylvania State University¡¯s Radiation Science and Engineering Center (RSEC) to investigate the water distribution in operating polymer electrolytic fuel cells (PEFCs) under normal and frozen conditions. The neutron tomography experiment and the initial reconstructions were successfully performed. The neutron computed tomography projection data has also been simulated and will be implemented for quantitative tomography research. The Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) technique was used to quantify the true resolution of the imaging system and this technique will continue to be expanded and combined with the quantification technique for the imaging system. For quantitative tomography purposes, major enhancements were made to the previous imaging system to improve the system spatial resolution. A two mirror open imaging system was designed that incorporates substantial radiation shielding to protect the cooled CCD camera. The new system has been successfully tested and is being used for taking radioscopic data and some of the results from these tests will be given in this thesis.