How to Kick Off the Development of Your Own Use Case for a Conformable DR Detector

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Introduction – On NDE Ecosystems and Platforms

Since the momentous discovery of X-rays made by Röntgen in November of 1895, imaging processes have enhanced our senses, allowing us humans not only to see inside ourselves in health-related imaging processes but also to see inside individual objects and complex assemblies that constitute the remarkably diverse type of assets that surround us.

Industries such as oil and gas, nuclear, construction, foundry and castings, energy generation, aerospace, NDE services companies, transportation, automotive, military and defense, and even non-industrial activities such as art restoration and museum artifacts make ample use of a very diverse palette of radiographic, ultrasonic, infrared, and eddy current imaging capabilities. This richness of imaging capabilities not only contributes to assure the quality and safety of the associated assets but also provides essential information and knowledge to support substantially important decision-making processes at all hierarchical levels in key stakeholders in the asset’s ecosystem, such as designers, manufacturing/construction companies, operators, owners, and regulatory bodies.

Radiographic film, imaging plates (IPs) for computed radiography (CR) and digital detectors arrays (DDAs) for digital radiography (DR), and computed tomography (CT) offer a rich palette of imaging capabilities that range from the carefully controlled environment of an R&D laboratory to the harsh, and often hostile, environmental conditions of field applications in an off-shore platform.

Competitive and sustainable imaging operations must have not only a clear perspective of the constituents of its imaging ecosystem, as is shown in Figure 1, but also of the role that any supporting imaging software platform should have to streamline the capture, analysis, transmission, storage, and preservation of trustworthy images. A vendor-independent DICONDE-compliant imaging platform shall ensure technological advancements in imaging media, hardware, and software create a positive syngenetic effect on the rest of the constituents of the imaging ecosystem; here, the importance of establishing a proper alignment between the adoption of advancements in recording media technology, imaging platforms, and the technical requirements integrated into codes and regulations.

Revisiting your repertoire of radiographic techniques

At their daily work, radiographers face the challenge of obtaining code-compliant high-quality images in a very diverse set of product forms, thicknesses, material types, and geometric conditions. Often, geometric restrictions force us to obtain a single image per exposure, as is the case of single-wall/single-image radiography of a pipe weld. Still, in other cases, multiple images can be obtained with a single exposure as may be the case of a panoramic exposure in a pressure vessel.

A conformable DDA detector makes feasible for digital radiography the image formation principle that advises that whenever achievable, the distance between the subject and the recording media should be maintained as minimal as possible to minimize distortion and unsharpness effects on the resulting image.

Regardless of your level of experience with radiographic techniques, Figure 2 aims to integrate into a single information element a collection of radiographic techniques that benefit from the availability of a conformable DR detector:

The following table provides a glimpse of the technical requirements related to radiographic techniques in a very diverse set of industries where radiographic standards emphasize and prioritize the use of flexible radiographic media.

All the technical references listed above—and their equivalent codes, specifications, and standards in other regions of the world such as Europe, Asia, or Africa—have in common that they emphasize the importance of direct contact of the radiographic detector with the inspected zone, whenever this condition is technically feasible; but until today, only film and computed radiography (CR) imaging plates (IPs) could satisfy that requirement.

Aiming to expand, enrich, and reinforce the imaging capabilities of our customers in a very diverse set of industries, we have developed an amorphous silicon conformable digital detector array (DDA) that is flexible and that allows the detector to be in direct contact with the inspected component. This conformable detector can be bent repeatedly around pipe welds of varying diameters resulting in significant image quality improvement, workflow time savings, and productivity benefits for the static capture of radiographic images on curved components.

DR detectors may be flexible, accurate, and sensible.

The sophisticated and extremely wide palette of manufactured components associated with many critical assets (such as castings, welding, forging, extruding, and bonding), their diversity of geometries and thickness ranges, alloys and materials types, service pressures and temperatures, and their associated extensive array of specifications and codes strengthens the notion that the adoption of conformable DR detectors expands, improves, and reinforces the imaging capabilities of radiographers and organizations in a very diverse set of industries and geographic regions to confront their unique challenges.

The accuracy of images produced by bendable DDA competes with their rigid counterparts that have been in the market for decades.

E2597/E2597M-22 Standard Practice for Manufacturing Characterization of Digital Detector Arrays provides a means to compare DDAs on a common set of technical measurements, realizing that in practice, adjustments can be made to achieve similar results even with disparate DDAs, given geometric magnification, or other industrial radiologic settings that may compensate for one shortcoming of a device. The factors that are evaluated under this standard practice are: interpolated basic spatial resolution (iSRbdetector), efficiency (normalized Detector SNR (SNRN) at 1 mGy (for different energies and beam qualities), achievable contrast sensitivity (CSa), specific material thickness range (SMTR) and ISO-MTL, image lag, burn-in, bad pixels distribution and statistics, and internal scatter ratio (ISR).

E2597/E2597M describes the evaluation of digital detector arrays (DDAs) and assures that one common standard exists for quantitative comparison of DDAs so that an appropriate DDA is selected to meet NDT requirements. It is intended for use by manufacturers or integrators of DDAs to provide quantitative results of DDA characteristics for NDT user or purchaser consumption.

Katie Carpenter, NDE imaging specialist at Carestream NDT, presented at the 20^th World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing in Incheon, South Korea, the research results obtained while comparing the images obtained from a set of bendable DDAs (INDUSTREX HPX-ARC 1025 PH) compared with a set rigid DDAs (Carestream HPX-DR 2530). Katie resumes in the following terms the context of these tests and the results obtained: “ASTM E2597/E2597M-22 is a standard that summarizes a standard practice for characterization of digital detector arrays (DDAs) by manufacturers. The standard consists of a series of tests intended to deliver quantitative results for a given model of detector’s characteristics as they should perform upon sale. It was written for use in characterizing rigid detectors, but the tests are applicable to bendable DDAs, utilized for single viewing. Bendable DDAs, unlike their rigid counterparts, are made to conform around parts being inspected, such as pipes, in a similar application to film and computed radiography for imaging curved objects. As bendable DDAs are made using the same scintillators as flat panel DDAs and have similar pixel pitch and resolution capabilities, it is expected that the results from most characterization tests should be similar. Conformable DDAs produce similar imaging results as rigid DDAs but have the flexibility of use for curved surfaces. They offer a valuable tool for customers currently using film and CR who are looking to expedite their inspections or move away from the use of consumable products. We performed these characterization procedures on conformable DDA models and rigid DDA models utilizing proprietary INDUSTREX software developed by Carestream Health, Inc. The experimental results are presented as part of this paper.”

Katie’s research article is available at the following link:

https://www.ndt.net/article/wcndt2024/papers/A20230914-1657_E.pdf

An actionable approach for radiographic imaging professionals and business decision-makers – Kicking off your own use case for a conformable DR detector

1. As an initial step in this stage, it will be interesting to make a list of the components and assemblies within the scope of your work that require radiographic imaging processes based on the options integrated in Figure 2.

2. Next, for each component or assembly type make a list of the codes, specifications, or standards that describe the radiographical technique applicable to the components and assemblies already included in your list.

3. Then, for each code, specification, or standard in your list, validate if digital radiography using DDAs is a feasible radiographic imaging process.

4. Finally (for this stage of analysis), review either single-wall exposure for single-wall viewing (SWE/SWV), panoramic, double-wall exposure for single-wall viewing (DWE/SWV), double-wall exposure for double-wall viewing (DWE/DWV) or other exposure technique is applicable for each component or assembly where digital radiography using DDAs is allowed.

At this stage, you should have consolidated into a single document: 1) A comprehensive list of the most common components or assembles where you need to perform radiographic imaging processes; 2) which of those radiographic imaging applications have the option to be performed with DR; and 3) which are suitable to use a conformable DR detector.

Where can I obtain supplementary information to advance my use case for a conformable DR detector?

A series of three white papers to guide you in the Why’s, How’s, and What’s of your use case have been developed by our research, sales, and marketing areas and are available from Carestream upon request.