Fast synchrotron X-ray tomography study of the rod packing structures

We present a fast synchrotron X-ray tomography study of the packing structures of rods under tapping. Utilizing the high flux of the X-rays generated from the third-generation synchrotron source, we can complete a tomography scan within several seconds, after which the three-dimensional (3D) packing structure can be obtained for the subsequent structural analysis. Due to the high-energy nature of the X-ray beam, special image processing steps including image phase-retrieval has been implemented. Overall, this study suggests the possibility of acquiring statistically significant static packing structures within a reasonable time scale using high-intensity X-ray sources.