Details of an advanced electronics imaging system which has been applied to field neutron radiography are presented in this paper. Heretofore, many applications of neutron radiography have not been utilized due to system mobility and long exposure times. A modified image intensifier was used with a scan conversion memory and mobile neutron radiography system to obtain neutron radiographs on a television monitor in .5 to 10 minutes. The electronic imaging system consists of a phosphor screen coupled to a light amplifier by a Bouwers' concentric mirror system with an aperature of GRA 1:0.65. The image is transferred from the light amplifier through relay optics to an image isocon television camera. A standard EIA 525 line system is used to interface easily with output devices such as frame integrator, video tape recorder, kinescope, and monitor. Some application areas of neutron radiographic systems for quality control are discussed, i.e. 1. Aircraft maintenance for detecting corrosion. 2. Ammunition inspection: Charge gradients. 3. Biomedical for pathological investigation of bone tumors. Real-time imaging is tied to reactors, accelerators, and large Californium-252 sources. Field applications dictate small Californium-252 sources for portability. When small sources are used, a frame integrator is added to the system which enables exposures to be made from seconds to ten minutes.

Date Published: 15 September 1978
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 0143, Applications of Electronic Imaging Systems, (15 September 1978); doi: 10.1117/12.956554

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0143:
Applications of Electronic Imaging Systems
Richard E. Franseen; Dieter K. Schroder, Editor(s)