|
1 Laboratory for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA kwj{at}bnl.gov
2 Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, New Jersey 07043, USA
3 Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3600, USA
4 Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
5 LCD-PTM, F-86960 Futuroscope Cedex, France
6 Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
7 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
A series of measurements of the structure of a variety of porous materials has been made using synchrotron computed microtomography (SCMT). The work was carried out at the Brookhaven National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), the Argonne Advanced Photon Source (APS) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The experiments at Brookhaven and Argonne were carried out on bending magnet beam lines using area detectors to obtain CT images based on determination of X-ray absorption coefficients. The work at the ESRF used an undulator beam line, a 13 KeV pencil X-ray beam of 2 µm and an energy dispersive X-ray detector to make tomographic sections of trace element distributions by X-ray fluorescence tomography. Most of the work was done with a pixel/voxel size ranging from 0.002 to 0.010 mm. We examined the structure of unconsolidated estuarine sediments, whose structure is relevant to transport of contaminants in rivers and estuaries. Fluorescent tomography with 2–3 µm resolution was used to ascertain whether or not metals were concentrated on the surface or throughout the volume of a single sediment particle. Sandstone samples were investigated to obtain a set of values describing their microstructures that could be useful in fluid flow calculations relevant to petroleum recovery or transport of environmental contaminants. Measurements were also made on sandstone samples that had been subjected to high-pressure compression to investigate the relation between the microgeometry and the magnitude of the applied pressure. Finally, a Wood’s metal-filled sample was scanned for demonstration of resolution enhancement and fluid flow studies.
