Determining chemical composition of materials through micro-CT images

Abstract X-ray microtomography is a 3D non-destructive method which, through digital images, enables a view of the internal structure of samples. Recently, researchers have been extensively performing various methods in the attempt to determine the chemical composition of materials. This paper brings further insight into this matter and proposes a new experimental method for determining the internal chemical composition of samples. Using a set of standard samples, calibration curves can be created that allow to relate the average gray scale of a sample obtained through microtomographic images to the value of ρ Z e f f m . In this model, ρ Z e f f m is the parameter that chemically characterizes a material. The exponent m is obtained by the average value obtained with standard samples, which were titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ), calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH) 2 ), and calcium nitrate (Ca(NO 3 ) 2 ). For the samples scanning process, a Bruker SkyScan 1172 microCT was used for testing rocks, nylon, graphite, calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) and aluminum samples. The experimental results achieved by this method were consistent with the theoretical values.