SBIR Phase II: A Compact Betatron for Nondestructive Evaluation

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase 11 project could significantly reduce the cost of radiologic nondestructive assessment. Adelphi proposes to construct an inexpensive compact betatron, capable of high-flux x-ray emisson, for the purpose of Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) in civil structures. The proposed x-ray source would replace more expensive RF linacs and thereby reduce the cost of radiological equipment. In conventional betatrons, eddy-current losses in the iron limit the frequency and the maximum field, thereby limiting the output beam power. With the use of proprietary low-loss, high-frequency materials, higher driving frequencies permit much higher x-ray fluxes while still reducing the size of the source. Radiologic NDE requires just such an inexpensive x-ray source to provide rapid, high signal-to-noise analyses. As a proof of principle, a prototype betatron x-ray source will be constructed and tested. The proposed research will demonstrate that the betatron will provide an x-ray flux necessary for rapid evaluation of concrete structures up to 70 cm thick. The betatron-based x-ray source developed under this proposal will find immediate commercial application as a replacement for the linacs currently used in industrial NDE. A second application for such an inexpensive high-flux x-ray source is radiotherapy treatment of cancer in developing countries.