Facility Support: High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Laboratory

这笔赠款为德克萨斯大学的计算机X射线断层扫描(UTCT)设施提供了为期三年的持续支持。德州大学的CT扫描仪专门设计用于对一系列地质材料和样品大小进行X射线层析成像。这项技术是从商用生物医学CAT扫描仪发展而来的，采用了更高能量的X射线源和更高分辨率的CCD探测器，可以对非生物地质样品进行微米级成像。该技术允许对样品的外部和内部进行完全非破坏性的成像。由于样品密度和沿X射线路径的材料的元素组成的变化而出现的X射线衰减的差异由CCD数字记录。样品被安装在X射线源前面的转台上。通过样本台的垂直平移来堆叠衰减的X射线的径向2-D切片。合成的X射线“正弦图”然后通过计算机算法进行还原，以绘制样品中密度分布的高分辨率三维图像。横跨地球科学、生物学、工程学和人类学的研究应用通常得到支持。UTCT扫描的数据和图像是网络可访问的数据，对教学非常有用。

This grant provides continued support for the University of Texas Computed X-ray Tomography (UTCT) Facility over a three year period. The CT scanner at UT was specifically designed to enable x-ray tomography of a range of geological materials and sample sizes. The technology was developed from commercial biomedical CAT scanners with the adoption of a higher energy x-ray source and higher resolution CCD detectors to allow micron-scale imaging of non-living geological samples. The technique allows for completely non-destructive imaging of the exteriors and interiors of samples. Differences in x-ray attenuation that occur due to variations in sample density and the elemental composition of the material along the x-ray path are digitally recorded by a CCD. Samples are mounted on a rotating table in front of the x-ray source. Radial 2-d slices of the attenuated x-rays are stacked by vertical translation of the sample table. Resultant x-ray "sinograms" are then reduced via computer algorithms to render high resolution 3-D images of the density distributions within samples. Research applications spanning the geosciences, biology, engineering and anthropology are routinely supported. Data and images from UTCT scans are web-accessible data and extremely useful for teaching.