In-line phase contrast computed tomography of carbon/carbon composites

X-ray phase contrast computed tomography (PC-CT) permits the non-destructive visualization of the internal structures of low atomic number materials and has become an invaluable analysis tool for the development and the applications of new materials. Here we implement an in-line phase contrast CT imaging technique for Carbon/Carbon composites, which consists of a scanning mode with object offset and the corresponding reconstruction algorithm. At each CT view angle, two original interference pattern intensity projection images with different geometrical magnification are acquired. The corresponding phase integral projection is retrieved from the recorded original images by the detector. Finally the phase contrast CT image is reconstructed by the algorithm from the retrieved projection. This work comprises a numerical study of the method and its experimental verification using one Carbon/Carbon composite dataset measured at an in-line phase contrast CT system with micro-focus X-ray tube source. The numerical and experimental results demonstrate that the presented technique can improve the imaging contrast of Carbon/Carbon composites. It will be of interest for the applications of in-line phase contrast CT in material science.

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