1.

0 INTRODUCTION
When x- rays or Gamma rays are passed
through material, some of the radiation i s
absorbed or changed and the amount of
absorption i s dependent upon the thickness of
the material, the density of the material and
the atomic number of the absorber. Some
kind of detector such as film, a fluorescent
screen, or a Geiger counter is used to record
the variations in intensity of the emerging
beam as visual images or signals. The image
produced on the film i s evaluated for
identifying the discontinuities Industrial
radiography i s primarily concerned with
recoding images on filrn
The two types of radiations, X - rays &
Gamma rays, are used in radiography and
Iia\/c similar characteristics, but differ in their
origin of their generation. Both of them are
hazardous for human beings if they are not
controlled properly. The three basic essentials
in producing a radiograph are, source of
radiation, object to be tested and a cassette
containing the film.
Figure 1 illustrates the main features in the
making of radiograph.. The radiation travels in a
straight l i ~l e from the source to the object. Some
of the rays pass through the object, some are
absorbed by the object, and some are scattered
in all directio~s by the object. The amount of
radiation reaching the film in the cassette
depends upon the nature of the material being
tested and its thickness. Suppose the object
being tested is of steel and it has a gas bubble in
the interior, there i s a reduction in the thickness
of the steel through the area of the bubble.
therefore, more radiation passes through the
section containing the bubble than through the
surrounding material.
A dark spot corresponding to the projected spot
of the bubble appears on the film when it i s
developed. The darker regions on the
radiograph represent the more easily penetrated
parts of the object, while the lighter regions
represent the thicker or more dense parts of the
object.
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Welding Research Institute, UHEL, Tiruchirappalli, India
The bjsic properties of the penetrating
radiation are 1) They travel in straight lines, 2)
they penetrate materials, 3) they affect
photographic films, 4) they interact with body
tissues, 5) they ionize gases, 6) They cannot
be sensed by human sense organs.
The advantage of RT over other NDT methods
is that it presents a permanent record, simple
to read out, relatively less costly, can be used
in sites, and the system i s portable. 'But it i s
highly dangerous to handle radiatiori sources
without proper training.
2.0 SOURCES OF RADIATION
X-RAYS The basic principle on which x ray is
generated is that when a stream of high sp~ec!
electrons is stopped abruptly heat ,jnd \:
radiation are generated. The heat is re!no\,.ld
and the x ray i s used for rad~ugrayhy
The X ray unit consists of
a) filament cathode, which produces electrons
when it is heated by filament current
b) Anode, made of tungsten embedded in
copper and from which the x rays are
generated. Heat produced is dissipated
through the anode and removed by forced or
natural cooling
C) focusing cup near the cathode to focus the
electrons emitted towards the anode
d) an evacuated glass container at 10 - 11
torr. in which the above assembly i s placed.
Electrons are produced by the heating of the
filament by the low voltage current called the
filament current. The electrons, which form a
cloud at ti!e cathode, are accelerated by the
high voltage imposed between the anode and
the cathode. When the stream of electrons
reach the anode they are stopped by the solid
metal and all the kinetic energy is converted
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into heat and x rays. The heat i s removed by
either natural air cooling by suitable design or
by water cooling the cathode. Tungsten i s
chosen for increasing the efficiency of the
production of X rays and copper for removing
the heat.
The area on which the electrons impinge on
the tungsten block i s called the actual focal
spot . The projected area of the actual focal
spot perpendicular to the direction of x rays i s
called the effective focal spot and plays a vital
role in deciding the quality of the radiograph.
The important parameters are in X ray testing
are
1) tube voltage and - the voltage between
the anode and cathode which i s between 50-
550 kV; the kV decides the thickness to
which the penetration i s possible; higher the
voltage thicker the component that can be
tested.
2) tube current, which i s in milli amperes (
mA ) . the quantity of x radiation depends on
the tube current.
3) time of exposure in minutes or seconds
The image produced on the radiograph i s
dependent on the quantity of radiation as well
as the time to which i t i s exposed and i s
called the exposure. Exposure = milliampere
x minutes and it i s expressed in units of mA -
mins
The basic control in an X ray machine
consists of the voltage control, Tube current
control and timer control. Safety interlocks for
avoiding overheating i s also provided. The
design of the conventional x ray machine as
shown i n the Figure 2 are used upto 550 kV
and beyond which special machines are
available. Linear accelerators, betatrons and
Van de Graaf generator are used for higher
voltage radiography.
The biggest advantage of X ray over gamma
ray is that by switching off the electric power
to the unit, the production of radiation can be
cut off. But n the case of gamma ray, the
radiation cannot be stopped but only can be
contained in the lead or uranium container.
GAMMA - RAYS: Gamma rays are produced
as spontaneous emission from the nucleus of
radioactive isotopes.
When a radioactive element decays its
nucleus emits three types of emissions: 1)
alpha particle, 2 ) beta particle 3) gamma ray.
Alpha particle i s a helium ion with two
neutrons and two protons. Beta particles are
negatively charged ions. Both the particulate
radiations travel very short distances and are
stopped easily by materials. Gamma ray i s a
radiation, highly penetrating in nature and i s
used in radiography.
The Roentgen (R) i s the unit measure of X or
Gamma radiation in air. It i s defined as
quantity f radiation that wi l l produce one
electrostatic unit (esu) of charge in one cubic
centimeter of air at STP. One Roentgen of
radiation approximately equals 83 ergs of
radiation energy per gram of air.
Gamma ray Intensity: This i s measured in
roentgens per hour at one meter, a measure of
radiation emission over a period of time at a
fixed distance. The activity ( amount of
radioactive material ) of a gamma ray source
determines the intensity of radiation. The
measure of activity is curies ( 1 curie - 3.7 x
10 disintegrations per second ).
Specific activity i s defined as degree of
concentration of radioactive material within a
gamma ray source. It i s expressed in curies /
gm or Curies 1 cc. The specific activity
decides the dimensions of the radiographic
source. Half life is the length of time required
for the activity of a radioisotope to decay
(disintegrate) to one half of its initial strength.
This depends on the particular isotope and is
a constant.
Earlier naturally radioactive materials - radium
and radon gas (fi l l ed in charcoal ) were used.
However in the modern industry, artificial
radio isotopes are widely used for their
convenience. The most common isotopes are
Iridium 192 and Cobalt 60.
Cobalt 60 i s an artificial isotope created by
neutron bombardment of Cobalt 59 and has a
half life of 5.3 years. The primary gamma
Welding Research Institute, BHEL, Tiruchirappalli, India
Page R72
emission consists of 1.33 and 1.1 7 MeV,
which i s similar in energy content to 2 MeV x
ray machines. The radioisotope i s supplied in
the form of capsuled pellet. Because of its
penetrating radiation requires thick shielding
for safety purposes and handling i s difficult.
The smallest available size i s 3 mm.
Iridium 192: Also produced by neutron
bombardment of Ir 191 has a half life of 75
days. The penetrating capability i s equal to
600 kV x ray machine. Its relatively low
energy radiation and high specific activity
makes it an easily shielded strong radiation
source of small physical size. Isotope camera :
Because of the ever present radiation hazard,
isotope sources must be handled with
extreme care, stored and locked i n adequately
shielded containers when not in use. The
equipment, which accomplishes safe
handling and storage of isotope sources
together with a source, is called a camera.
3.0 RADIOGRAPHIC FILM
Radiographic film i s normally used as the
recording medium in radiography and
resembles a photographic film. The film
consists of a) base, and b) emulsion. A cross
section of the film i s shown in fig 5. The base
i s a transparent medium made of polyesters of
about 50 microns thick on which the sensitive
emulsion i s coated.
Emulsion: The emulsion i s a suspension of
silver salts (chloride or Bromide) in gelatin,
which is a solid below 50 degree C and
swells in water to permit processing
chemicals to react with silver salts. The
coating i s on both sides of the base, which
increases the quantity of radiation, absorbed
and hence reduces exposure time. Grain size
of the silver salts has considerable effect on
the sensitivity and speed of the film. The films
are graded as fine, medium and coarse. The
speed of the film is classified as slow,
medium and fast respectively for these films.
Slow films are fine grain films that need
longer exposure but give greater details
(sensitivity) in the radiograph. Fast films are
those having coarser grains requiring less time
and produce radiographs of lesser sensitivity.
To protect the delicate emulsion from
mechanical damage, a thin layer of gelatin i s
given as a protection layer.
DENSITY: The function of emulsion coating
is to produce opaque silver metal deposits
when exposed to light or radiation. The
degree of darkness i s expressed as density.
Density, D = Log
( li 1 It )
li = lntensity of Incident light , It = lntensity
of the transmitted light.
From this it can be seen that, darker the film,
higher the density. The density of the
radiograph, called the transmission density, i s
measured either by the special instrument
called densitometer which directly gives an
electronic readout or compared with the
standard radiograph film which has different
calibrated densities The scale for density is 0
to 15, while 15 is almost opaque. Optimum
density for an industrial radiograph is 2 to 4.
Exposure: It is the product of intensity of
radiation and duration for which the energy
was acting on the film. To express
radiographic exposure, one has to give
Kilovoltage, Milliamperes and Time in case of
X-rays and type of source, its strength in
curies and exposure time in minutes for an
isotope source.
A typical sensitometric also called H - D
Curve for an industrial radiographic film is
given in Fig 6
4.0 RADIOGRAPHIC PROCESSING
Processing involves reduction of exposed
silver halides in the emulsion to silver metal
by a controlled chemical action.
1. Water 2. Developer 3. Stop bath 4. Fixer 5.
Rinsing in flowing water.
The temperature of processing should be
maintained at 20C. The water both soaks the
gelatin and wets the surface so that uniform
action can take place. The gelatin swells and
allows the chemicals to enter into its net work
so that thorough action in subsequent
Welding Research Institute, BHEL, Tiruchirappalli, India Page RT3