Industrial Productivity and Manufacturing
Technology
Filmless Radiography
Liberty Technologies, Inc. of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, has seen the
future of industrial radiography and it is filmless. Thanks to the company's
RADView™ technology, licensed from Quantex Corporation of Rockville,
Mary land, that future vision is now.
Radiography is implemented in a number of aerospace, oil and gas, and
utility applications. It is particularly useful for visualization of cracks,
erosion and corrosion problems, and checking the nature of welds, assuring
integrity by direct imaging of internal structure. Defects can be discerned
in a noninvasive manner. Costly and sometimes deadly catastrophic failures
can be prevented through radiography.
RADView is a new filmless technology, a total imaging solution for the
conversion of radiographic film records to digital format and digital acquisition
of radiographs.
R. Nim Evatt, president and CEO of Liberty Technologies considers the
RADView as the first practical advance in technology for industrial radiographic
imaging since the discovery of x-rays over 100 years ago.
The system works much the same way as a common medical x-ray--the object
to be imaged is first exposed to radiation. But using RADView, a thin and
flexible Storage Phosphor Screen--in place of conventional film--records
and stores the image. This phosphor screen is a solid-state media. A stored
image can be read with a laser and directly digitized for electronic viewing.
After viewing or archiving is complete, the screen can be erased, ready
for the next image.
| RADView provides efficient digital radiography
of industrial components to catch wear, erosion, or other defects. The
initial research was sponsored by NASA through a Small Business Innovation
Research contract. |
Initially prototyped under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
contract between Quantex Corporation and Langley Research Center, the solid-state
radiography system can capture latent images with wider dynamic range at
lower x-ray or gamma doses than conventional film systems. NASA-sponsored
work by Quantex involved the investigation of a technology called Electron
Trapping (ET®). That research led to a solid-state film that uses a
special class of photoluminescent materials to capture radiographic images.
In June 1994, Quantex signed a license agreement with Liberty Technologies,
which further developed and now markets filmless radiography systems for
inspection of industrial components. The core work of Liberty is to provide
diagnostic, condition monitoring and nondestructive evaluation programs,
products and services to manage critical assets and processes in industries
worldwide.
RADView converts existing radiographic film to a digital format and
digitally acquires images employing the patented phosphor technology. A
trio of benefits is immediately realized by the RADView technology: reduction
of exposure times and errors; film waste and expense is eliminated; and
the efficiency of data management and precise image analysis is boosted.
Liberty's commercial systems rapidly acquire and digitize radiographic
images of objects, which then can be viewed and enhanced electronically.
The system's software enables a much greater range of information to be
gleaned.
Yet another advantage of the RADView approach is that, in general, the
solid-state film can be exposed, read, erased, and re-exposed indefinitely
until mechanical wear replacement is required. Furthermore, the solid-state
film allows electronic archiving and transmission of images. Typically,
radiographic films begin to degrade after roughly 10 years. Liberty's digital
images, however, can be stored to optical media for up to 100 years and
beyond without information loss as well as at low cost.
Liberty has already begun to introduce the RADView to selected overseas
markets that require industrial radiography as it is a billion dollar market
worldwide.
™ RADView is a trademark of Liberty Technologies, Inc.
® ET is a registered trademark of Quantex Corporation.
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