Fabrication of Black Body Grids by Thick Film Printing for Quantitative Neutron Imaging
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Quantitative Neutron Imaging with Black Body Grids
1.2. Candidate Materials for BB Grids
1.3. Thick Film Printing
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Fabrication of BB Grids
- Print Gd2O3 paste;
- Dry at 125 °C to 150 °C for 15 min;
- Increase snap-off distance as needed to accommodate increased print thickness;
- Repeat.
2.2. Neutron Imaging Configurations
2.3. Image Normalization with Scattering Correction
- The “dark frame” image (), which measures the count rate of the detector system at a given exposure time (due to dark current, bias, and readout noise) with the neutron shutter closed.
- The measured sample image (), where denotes the sample (or for the ith projection in a tomographic scan), which is the sum of the true sample image () and the dark frame:
- The measured “open beam” image (), which accounts for the spatial inhomegeneity of the incident beam and the detector, and which is the sum of the true open beam image () and the dark frame: .
2.4. Image Processing
2.4.1. Statistical Analysis of BB Grids
2.4.2. PMMA Step Wedge
2.4.3. Water Column
3. Results
3.1. Statistical Analysis of BB Grids
- Using the determination of for the imaging system at the position on the BB grid, select an acceptable transparency threshold and fabricate a grid with BBs of appropriate radius. Assuming an averaging region , a 1% transparency threshold would require , while a 0.1% threshold would require . This sets a lower bound on the BB radius, which may not be possible or desirable in all configurations. Generally, the BBs should cover as little area as possible to minimize their impact on the biases being measured. In kinetic studies where the BBs will be left in place continuously, there is also the concern of the BBs occluding interesting parts of the sample.
- Use the determination of the PSF for the imaging system at the position on the BB grid and perform deconvolution to recover the “true” signal at the BB centers. This approach has been demonstrated successfully with BBs [8] but has the added experimental complication of requiring detailed PSF measurements, which may not always be possible. Deconvolution may also introduce undesirable artifacts which can impact quantitative interpretation.
- Include the transparency of the BBs explicitly in the formulation of the scattering correction, as performed here in Equations (15)–(18) with the term . This approach has the advantage of allowing the imperfect opacity of the physical BB grid and the effects of the imaging system to be captured in a single term. We can bound with calibration samples of known composition and dimensions, or it may also be adjusted as a free parameter to establish an uncertainty range for the corrected data.
3.2. PMMA Step Wedge
3.3. Water Column
4. Discussion
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Copyright Notice
References
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Spectrum | HFIR CG-1D (2.75 Å) | NCNR BT2 (1.8 Å) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
99% | 99.9% | 99% | 99.9% | |
Peak wavelength (mono) | 28 | 42 | 39 | 58 |
Maxwell–Boltzmann (poly) | 31 | 54 | 79 | 259 |
Measured (poly) | 37 | 81 | - | - |
Number of Print Layers | 250 µm × 2.5 mm | 500 µm × 5 mm |
---|---|---|
2 | 19.2 | 43.6 |
3 | 25.5 | 52.0 |
4 | 30.3 | 63.0 |
5 | 30.5 | 79.6 |
6 | 32.0 | 80.0 |
Spectrum | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
CG-1D: measured | 0 | 0.9942 | 0.0277 | 0.0006 |
CG-1D: 2.75 Å Maxwell | 0 | 0.8501 | 0.0449 | −0.0009 |
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Share and Cite
Wissink, M.; Goldenberger, K.; Ferguson, L.; Zhang, Y.; Bilheux, H.; LaManna, J.; Jacobson, D.; Kass, M.; Finney, C.; Willocks, J. Fabrication of Black Body Grids by Thick Film Printing for Quantitative Neutron Imaging. J. Imaging 2022, 8, 164. https://doi.org/10.3390/jimaging8060164
Wissink M, Goldenberger K, Ferguson L, Zhang Y, Bilheux H, LaManna J, Jacobson D, Kass M, Finney C, Willocks J. Fabrication of Black Body Grids by Thick Film Printing for Quantitative Neutron Imaging. Journal of Imaging. 2022; 8(6):164. https://doi.org/10.3390/jimaging8060164
Chicago/Turabian StyleWissink, Martin, Kirk Goldenberger, Luke Ferguson, Yuxuan Zhang, Hassina Bilheux, Jacob LaManna, David Jacobson, Michael Kass, Charles Finney, and Jonathan Willocks. 2022. "Fabrication of Black Body Grids by Thick Film Printing for Quantitative Neutron Imaging" Journal of Imaging 8, no. 6: 164. https://doi.org/10.3390/jimaging8060164