Radiographic Testing-Part 1

Materials Testing
Dr. Belal Gharaibeh
JU-IE

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 Introduction
• Radiography is used in a very wide range of
applications including medicine, engineering,
forensics, security, etc. In NDT, radiography is
one of the most important and widely used
methods.
• Radiographic testing (RT) offers a number of
advantages over other NDT methods,
however, one of its major disadvantages is the
health risk associated with the radiation

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• In general, RT is method of inspecting materials
for hidden flaws by using the ability of short
wavelength electromagnetic radiation (high
energy photons) to penetrate various materials.
• The intensity of the radiation that penetrates and
passes through the material is either captured by
a radiation sensitive film (Film Radiography) or by
a planer array of radiation sensitive sensors (Real-
time Radiography).
• Film radiography is the oldest approach, yet it is
still the most widely used in NDT.

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 Basic Principles
• In radiographic testing, the part to be inspected is
placed between the radiation source and a piece of
radiation sensitive film.
• The radiation source can either be an X-ray machine or
a radioactive source (Ir-192, Co-60, or in rare cases Cs-
137). The part will stop some of the radiation where
thicker and more dense areas will stop more of the
radiation.
• The radiation that passes through the part will expose
the film and forms a shadowgraph of the part.
• The film darkness (density) will vary with the amount
of radiation reaching the film through the test object
where darker areas indicate more exposure (higher
radiation intensity) and liter areas indicate less
exposure (lower radiation intensity). 4
• This variation in the
image darkness can
be used to determine
thickness or
composition of
material and would
also reveal the
presence of any flaws
or discontinuities
inside the material 5
 Advantages
• Both surface and internal discontinuities can be
detected.
• Significant variations in composition can be detected.
• It has a very few material limitations.
• Can be used for inspecting hidden areas (direct access
to surface is not required)
• Very minimal or no part preparation is required.
• Permanent test record is obtained.
• Good portability especially for gamma-ray sources

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 Disadvantages
• Hazardous to operators and other nearby
personnel.
• High degree of skill and experience is required for
exposure and interpretation.
• The equipment is relatively expensive (especially
for x-ray sources).
• The process is generally slow.
• Highly directional (sensitive to flaw orientation).
• Depth of discontinuity is not indicated.
• It requires a two-sided access to the component.

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 PHYSICS OF RADIATION
• Both X-rays and gamma rays are electromagnetic waves
and on the electromagnetic spectrum they ocupy
frequency ranges that are higher than ultraviolate
radiation. In terms of frequency, gamma rays generaly have
higher frequencies than X-rays as seen in the figure .
• The major distinction between X-rays and gamma rays is
the origin where X-rays are usually artificially produced
using an X-ray generator and gamma radiation is the
product of radioactive materials.
• Both X-rays and gamma rays are waveforms, as are light
rays, microwaves, and radio waves. X-rays and gamma rays
cannot been seen, felt, or heard.
• They possess no charge and no mass and, therefore are not
influenced by electrical and magnetic fields and will
generally travel in straight lines. However, they can be
diffracted (bent) in a manner similar to light 8
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 Properties of X-Rays and Gamma
Rays
• They are not detected by human senses (cannot be
seen, heard, felt, etc.).
• They travel in straight lines at the speed of light.
• Their paths cannot be changed by electrical or
magnetic fields.
• They can be diffracted, refracted to a small degree at
interfaces between two different materials, and in
some cases be reflected.
• They pass through matter until they have a chance to
encounter with an atomic particle.
• Their degree of penetration depends on their energy
and the matter they are traveling through.
• They have enough energy to ionize matter and can
damage or destroy living cells 10
 X-Radiation
• X-rays are just like any other kind of electromagnetic
radiation.
• They can be produced in packets of energy called
photons, just like light.
• There are two different atomic processes that can
produce X-ray photons. One is called Bremsstrahlung (a
German term meaning “braking radiation”) and the
other is called K-shell emission.
• They can both occur in the heavy atoms of tungsten
which is often the material chosen for the target or
anode of the X-ray tube

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 Bremsstrahlung Radiation
• X-ray tubes produce X-ray photons by
accelerating a stream of electrons to energies of
several hundred kiloelectronvolts with velocities
of several hundred kilometers per hour and
colliding them into a heavy target material. The
abrupt acceleration of the charged particles
(electrons) produces Bremsstrahlung photons. X-
ray radiation with a continuous spectrum of
energies is produced with a range from a few keV
to a maximum of the energy of the electron
beam.

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• The Bremsstrahlung photons generated
within the target material are
attenuated as they pass through,
typically, 50 microns of target material.
• The beam is further attenuated by the
aluminum or beryllium vacuum
window. The results are the elimination
of the low energy photons, 1 keV
through 15 keV, and a significant
reduction in the portion of the
spectrum from 15 keV through 50 keV.
• The spectrum from an X-ray tube is
further modified by the filtration
caused by the selection of filters used
in the setup.

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 K-shell Emission Radiation
• Remember that atoms have their
electrons arranged in closed
“shells” of different energies. The K-
shell is the lowest energy state of
an atom.
• An incoming electron can give a K-
shell electron enough energy to
knock it out of its energy state.
About 0.1% of the electrons
produce K-shell vacancies; most
produce heat.
• Then, a tungsten electron of higher
energy (from an outer shell) can fall
into the K-shell. The energy lost by
the falling electron shows up as an
emitted X-ray photon. 14
• Meanwhile, higher energy electrons fall into
the vacated energy state in the outer shell,
and so on. After losing an electron, an atom
remains ionized for a very short time (about
10-14 second) and thus an atom can be
repeatedly ionized by the incident electrons
which arrive about every 10-12 second.
Generally, K-shell emission produces higher-
intensity X-rays than Bremsstrahlung, and the
X-ray photon comes out at a single wavelength
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 Gamma Radiation
• Gamma radiation is one of the three types of
natural radioactivity. Gamma rays are
electromagnetic radiation just like X-rays. The
other two types of natural radioactivity are
alpha and beta radiation, which are in the
form of particles. Gamma rays are the most
energetic form of electromagnetic radiation

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• Gamma radiation is the product of radioactive atoms.
Depending upon the ratio of neutrons to protons
within its nucleus, an isotope of a particular element
may be stable or unstable.
• When the binding energy is not strong enough to hold
the nucleus of an atom together, the atom is said to be
unstable. Atoms with unstable nuclei are constantly
changing as a result of the imbalance of energy within
the nucleus.
• Over time, the nuclei of unstable isotopes
spontaneously disintegrate, or transform, in a process
known as “radioactive decay” and such material is
called “radioactive material”.
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 Isotope Decay Rate (Half-Life)
• Each radioactive material decays at its own unique rate
which cannot be altered by any chemical or physical
process.
• A useful measure of this rate is the “half-life” of the
radioactivity. Half-life is defined as the time required
for the activity of any particular radionuclide to
decrease to one-half of its initial value.
• In other words one-half of the atoms have reverted to a
more stable state material.
• Half-lives of radioactive materials range from
microseconds to billions of years. Half-life of two widely
used industrial isotopes are; 74 days for Iridium-192,
and 5.3 years for Cobalt-60.
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• In order to find the
remaining activity of a
certain material with a
known half-life value after a
certain period of time, the
following formula may be
used. The formula calculates
the decay fraction (or the
remaining fraction of the
initial activity) as:

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• Or alternatively, the equitation can be solved
to find the time required for activity to decay
to a certain level as:

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