Quantitative dual-energy micro-CT with a photon-counting detector for material science and non-destructive testing

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Medical Physics
• Photon Counting Detectors

Background:

• Advancements in high-Z semiconductor sensors enable novel spectral x-ray imaging.
• Extracting spectral information in the projection domain offers advantages for material science by mitigating polychromatic artifacts like beam-hardening.
• Accurate knowledge of energy-dependent system parameters is crucial for spectral imaging methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the performance of a projection-based decomposition method for photon-counting detector data.
• To evaluate its application in X-ray micro-CT for material science and non-destructive testing.
• To assess the method's ability to handle beam-hardening artifacts and improve image contrast.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an adapted semi-empirical model with a simple calibration procedure.
• Developed a projection-based decomposition of photon-counting raw-data into basis material projections.
• Applied the method to projection-based dual-energy micro-CT.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated good quantitative accuracy for material properties like electron densities and effective atomic numbers.
• Significantly reduced beam-hardening artifacts in micro-CT images.
• Improved image contrast without increasing measurement time.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method is effective for spectral X-ray micro-CT in material science and non-destructive testing.
• It offers accurate material property assessment and superior artifact reduction.
• This technology advances quantitative spectral imaging with photon-counting detectors.