Abstract:
Synchrotron-based high-energy X-ray imaging techniques have rapidly developed over the last few decades, and become essential tools to study a wide variety of materials and disciplines including structural engineering, archeology and energy storage. The ability of high-energy X-rays to penetrate through mm-sized samples and environments allows researchers to monitor bulk material responses under a variety of in situ conditions. In the first half of the presentation, I will talk about how we combined high-energy X-ray tomography, radiography and diffraction techniques to study advanced cast iron for heavy duty engine applications [1,2]. We used ex situ tomography to reveal the 3D graphite morphology in various cast iron specimens, which was correlated to process parameters including inoculant and chemistry. We also developed a high-temperature in situ radiography and diffraction setup to observe and understand graphite growth mechanisms during solidification. In the second half of the talk, I will discuss recent developments to establish white-beam imaging capabilities at 6-BM-A, and integrate these with existing Energy-Dispersive Diffraction (EDD) technique. We also evaluated Bluesky, a next generation beamline control environment for the control of tomography experiment. The combination of these techniques provides a unique platform to study bulk engineering materials under in-service conditions, and selected applications will be discussed.
Reference:
- Chuang CP, Singh D, Kenesei P, Almer J, Hryn J, Huff R, “Application of X-ray Computed Tomography for the characterization of graphite morphology in cast iron”, Materials Characterization 2018; 141, 442-449
- Chuang CP, Singh D, Kenesei P, Almer J, Hryn J, Huff R, “3D quantitative analysis of graphite morphology in high strength cast iron by high-energy X-ray tomography”, Scripta Materialia 2015; 106, 5