Recent Trends in Digital Industrial Radiology

New digital detectors were developed for medical applications, which have the potential to substitute the X-ray film and revolutionise the radiological technique. Flat panels and imaging plates allow a fast detection of radiographs in a shorter time and with higher dynamic than film applications. The properties of these detectors can be controlled by electronics and exposure conditions. New names appear in literature like "direct radiography" and "film replacement techniques". The basic advantage of new digital techniques is the possibility to use numeric procedures for image interpretation. Intelligent procedures, which include a special inspection geometry and multi angle inspection are applied for depth measurement and 3-dimensional inspection. Industrial radiology can be optimised for crack detection as well as for analysis of flaw depth and shape measurement. Parallel with the development of flat panel detectors, an extraordinary increase of Computed Tomography (CT) applications can be observed. Nowadays, also mobile CT-applications are available for sizing of flaws in components of industrial plants and in pipelines. Parallel to the development of 2-dimensional detectors, improved line cameras open new ways for mobile applications in radiology. High resolution detector lines and time delayed integrating (TDI) lines speed up the data acquisition and enable an image quality, that is suitable for weld inspection and casting production surveillance. High quality radiographs can be obtained even from media filled pipelines. The analysis of scattered radiation and energy disperse techniques provide additional information about the chemical composition and structure. Dual energy applications lead to contrast enhancement for multi-component systems as well as the inspection of filled pipelines and other containers. X-ray topography of scattered radiation allows imaging of microand nano-structures complementary to absorption radiography. Synchrotron radiation yields fast and accurate information about materials properties.