Neutron Imaging of Laser Melted SS316 Test Objects with Spatially Resolved Small Angle Neutron Scattering

Published

April 21, 2021

Author(s)

Daniel S. Hussey, Adam J. Brooks, Caroline G. Lowery, Gerald L. Knapp, Bridget E. Cadigan, Shengmin Guo, Leslie G. Butler

Abstract

A novel neutron far field interferometer is explored for sub-micron porosity detection in laser sintered SS316 test objects. The results shown are images and volumes of the first quantitative neutron dark-field tomography at various autocorrelation lengths, x. In this preliminary work, the beam-defining slits were adjusted to an uncalibrated opening of 0.5mm horizontal and 5 cm vertical; the images are blurred along the vertical direction. In spite of the blurred attenuation images, the dark-field images reveal structural information at the micron-scale. The topics explored include: the accessible size range of defects, potentially 338 nm to 4.5 μm, that can be imaged with the small angle scattering images; the spatial resolution of the attenuation image; the maximum sample dimensions compatible with interferometry optics and neutron attenuation; the procedure for reduction of the raw interferogram images into attenuation, differential phase contrast, and small angle scattering (dark-field) images; and the role of neutron far field interferometry in additive manufacturing to assess sub-micron porosity.

Citation

Journal of Imaging Science

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

tomography, laser sintered powder bed, neutron far-field interferometry, additive manufacturing

Citation

Hussey, D. , Brooks, A. , Lowery, C. , Knapp, G. , Cadigan, B. , Guo, S. and Butler, L. (2021), Neutron Imaging of Laser Melted SS316 Test Objects with Spatially Resolved Small Angle Neutron Scattering, Journal of Imaging Science, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=924845 (Accessed October 1, 2025)