An in situ microtomography apparatus with a laboratory x-ray source for elevated temperatures of up to 1000 °C

An elevated-temperature in situ microtomography apparatus that can measure internal damage parameters under tensile loads at high temperatures up to 1000 °C is developed using a laboratory x-ray source. The maximum resolution of the apparatus can reach 3 µm by a reasonable design. A high-temperature environment is accomplished by means of a heating chamber based on a radiation technique using four halogen lamps with ellipsoidal reflectors. To obtain high resolution, the chamber is much smaller in the direction of the x-ray beam than in the other two directions. Two thin aluminum windows are chosen as the chamber walls perpendicular to and intersecting the x-ray beam. A material testing machine equipped with two synchronous rotating motors is specially designed for mechanical loading and 360° rotation of the specimen, and customized grips are developed to conduct tensile tests. A microfocus x-ray source and a high-resolution detector are used to produce and detect X rays, and the distances among the x-ray source, specimen, and high-resolution detector can be adjusted to obtain different resolutions. To show the main functions and usability of the apparatus, carbon-fiber-reinforced silicon-carbide matrix specimens are subjected to in situ x-ray microtomography tensile tests at 800 °C and 1000 °C, and the crack propagation behavior under thermomechanical coupling loads is studied.