Quality assurance and condition assessment of concrete structures is an important topic world-wide due to the aging infrastructure and increasing traffic demands. Common topics include, but are not limited to, localisation of rebar or tendon ducts, geometrical irregularities, cracks, voids, honeycombing or other flaws. Non-destructive techniques such as ultrasound or radar have found regular, successful practical application but sometimes suffer from limited resolution and accuracy, imaging artefacts or restrictions in detecting certain features. Until the 1980s X-ray transmission was used in case of special demands and showed a much better resolution than other NDT techniques. However, due to safety concerns and cost issues, this method is almost never used anymore. Muon tomography has received much attention recently. Novel detectors for cosmic muons and tomographic imaging algorithms have opened up new fields of application, such as the investigation of freight containers. Muon imaging also has the potential to fill some of the gaps currently existing in concrete NDT. As a first step towards practical use and as a proof of concept we used an existing system to image the interior of a reference reinforced 600 kg concrete block. Even with a yet not optimized setup for this kind of investigation, the muon imaging results are at least of similar quality compared to ultrasonic and radar imaging, potentially even better. The data acquisition takes more time and signals contain more noise, but the images allowed to detect the same important features that are visible in conventional high energy X-ray tomography. In our experiment, we have shown that muon imaging has potential for concrete inspection. The next steps include the development of mobile detectors and optimising acquisition and imaging parameters.
Hot crack assessment during production and processing of metallic materials is an essential prerequisite for the safety of welded structures. The hot cracking investigations presented here were carried out as part of a study aimed at the development of Cr/Ni low transformation temperature filler materials. Low transformation temperature alloys open up the possibility for welding high strength steels. The externally loaded Modified Varestraint Transvarestraint hot cracking test was employed in the experiments described. The hot cracking resistance was evaluated with the help of light microscopy applied at the specimen surface. The proportionality between hot cracking susceptibility and Cr/Ni alloy content was explained by the altered solidification kinetics and by the enlarged solidification interval. The internal crack paths and the three-dimensional structure of the crack net in the material volume were examined using X-ray computer tomography. The total crack lengths for different material depths and circumjacent rectangular volumes, respectively, were be determined. An increasing hot cracking susceptibility with increasing Cr/Ni alloy content was also be established for the specimen volume.
Industrial radiology is typically applied for the volumetric inspection of industrial products and installations [1,2]. The basic setup consists of a radiation source in front of the object to be inspected and an area detector behind the object. The classical detector is an X-ray film. New electronic area detectors are gradually substituting the film. The radiation source can be an X-ray generator, a gamma source or a particle emitter, generating e.g., neutron or proton radiation.
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