scholarly journals Synchrotron X-ray microtomography and multifractal analysis for the characterization of pore structure and distribution in softwood pellet biochar

Biochar ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Srocke ◽  
Liwen Han ◽  
Pierre Dutilleul ◽  
Xianghui Xiao ◽  
Donald L. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pore Structure ◽  
Multifractal Analysis ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Nitrogen Adsorption ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Generalized Dimensions ◽  
Internal Pore Structure

AbstractBiochar pores in the micrometer range (1–100 µm) derive from cellular structures of the plant biomass subjected to pyrolysis or can be the result of mechanical processing, such as pelleting. In this study, synchrotron X-ray microtomography was used to investigate the internal pore structure of softwood pellet biochar produced by slow pyrolysis at 550 and 700 °C. The microtomographic data sets consisted of 2025 images of 2560 × 2560 voxels with a voxel side length of 0.87 µm. The three-dimensional reconstructions revealed that pelleting and pyrolysis significantly altered the pore structures of the wood feedstock, creating a network of connected pores between fragments that resembled the wood morphology. While higher pyrolysis temperature increased the specific surface area (as determined by BET nitrogen adsorption), it did not affect the total observed porosity. Multifractal analysis was applied to assess the characteristics of the frequency distribution of pores along each of the three dimensions of reconstructed images of five softwood pellet biochar samples. The resulting singularity and Rényi spectra (generalized dimensions) indicated that the distribution of porosity had monofractal scaling behavior, was homogeneous within the analyzed volumes and consistent between replicate samples. Moreover, the pore distributions were isotropic (direction-independent), which is in strong contrast with the anisotropic pore structure of wood. As pores at the scale analyzed in this study are relevant, for example, for the supply of plant accessible water and habitable space for microorganisms, our findings combined with the ability to reproduce biochar with such pore distribution offer substantial advantages in various biochar applications.

scholarly journals Three-Dimensional Fiber Segment Orientation Distribution Using X-Ray Microtomography

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1294-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tausif ◽  
Brian Duffy ◽  
Sergei Grishanov ◽  
Hamish Carr ◽  
Stephen J. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Tensile Testing ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Orientation Distribution ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Nonwoven Fabrics ◽  
Fiber Segment ◽  
Segment Orientation

AbstractThe orientation of fibers in assemblies such as nonwovens has a major influence on the anisotropy of properties of the bulk structure and is strongly influenced by the processes used to manufacture the fabric. To build a detailed understanding of a fabric’s geometry and architecture it is important that fiber orientation in three dimensions is evaluated since out-of-plane orientations may also contribute to the physical properties of the fabric. In this study, a technique for measuring fiber segment orientation as proposed by Eberhardt and Clarke is implemented and experimentally studied based on analysis of X-ray computed microtomographic data. Fiber segment orientation distributions were extracted from volumetric X-ray microtomography data sets of hydroentangled nonwoven fabrics manufactured from parallel-laid, cross-laid, and air-laid webs. Spherical coordinates represented the orientation of individual fibers. Physical testing of the samples by means of zero-span tensile testing and z-directional tensile testing was employed to compare with the computed results.

scholarly journals Nervous Activity of the Brain in Five Dimensions

Biophysica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Arturo Tozzi ◽  
James F. Peters ◽  
Norbert Jausovec ◽  
Arjuna P. H. Don ◽  
Sheela Ramanna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fourier Analysis ◽  
Nervous Activity ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
The Brain

The nervous activity of the brain takes place in higher-dimensional functional spaces. It has been proposed that the brain might be equipped with phase spaces characterized by four spatial dimensions plus time, instead of the classical three plus time. This suggests that global visualization methods for exploiting four-dimensional maps of three-dimensional experimental data sets might be used in neuroscience. We asked whether it is feasible to describe the four-dimensional trajectories (plus time) of two-dimensional (plus time) electroencephalographic traces (EEG). We made use of quaternion orthographic projections to map to the surface of four-dimensional hyperspheres EEG signal patches treated with Fourier analysis. Once achieved the proper quaternion maps, we show that this multi-dimensional procedure brings undoubted benefits. The treatment of EEG traces with Fourier analysis allows the investigation the scale-free activity of the brain in terms of trajectories on hyperspheres and quaternionic networks. Repetitive spatial and temporal patterns undetectable in three dimensions (plus time) are easily enlightened in four dimensions (plus time). Further, a quaternionic approach makes it feasible to identify spatially far apart and temporally distant periodic trajectories with the same features, such as, e.g., the same oscillatory frequency or amplitude. This leads to an incisive operational assessment of global or broken symmetries, domains of attraction inside three-dimensional projections and matching descriptions between the apparently random paths hidden in the very structure of nervous fractal signals.

scholarly journals Three-dimensional propagation in near-field tomographic X-ray phase retrieval

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aike Ruhlandt ◽  
Tim Salditt
Keyword(s):  
Phase Retrieval ◽  
Near Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Current Phase ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Reconstruction Quality ◽  
Consistency Constraints

This paper presents an extension of phase retrieval algorithms for near-field X-ray (propagation) imaging to three dimensions, enhancing the quality of the reconstruction by exploiting previously unused three-dimensional consistency constraints. The approach is based on a novel three-dimensional propagator and is derived for the case of optically weak objects. It can be easily implemented in current phase retrieval architectures, is computationally efficient and reduces the need for restrictive prior assumptions, resulting in superior reconstruction quality.

Structural and surface aspects of thermally treated copper aluminium mixed hydroxides

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 1511-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Awad I. Ahmed ◽  
S. E. Samra ◽  
S. A. El-Hakam
Keyword(s):  
Pore Structure ◽  
Copper Content ◽  
Textural Properties ◽  
Nitrogen Adsorption ◽  
Phase Changes ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Surface Areas ◽  
Structure Surface ◽  
Adsorption Desorption

CuO–Al2O3 catalysts containing various amounts of copper oxide have been prepared by precipitation. The phase changes were studied by X-ray diffraction. The results obtained revealed that the thermal treatment of solid CuO–Al2O3 at 700 °C produced only crystalline CuO. Heating to 900 °C led to the formation of copper alumina spinel together with unreacted CuO and γ-Al2O3. The spinel content was found to increase with increasing copper content. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms on the calcined samples have been measured. Surface areas have been calculated and the pore structure analysed. The textural properties of the system were found to depend on both the copper content and the calcination temperature. Key words: CuO, Al2O3 catalysts, structure, surface area, pore structure.

Three-dimensional X-ray diffraction imaging of process-induced dislocation loops in silicon

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Allen ◽  
Jochen Wittge ◽  
Jennifer Stopford ◽  
Andreas Danilewsky ◽  
Patrick McNally
Keyword(s):  
Semiconductor Industry ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Crystal Defects ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Dislocation Loops ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Diffraction Imaging ◽  
Relationship Of

In the semiconductor industry, wafer handling introduces micro-cracks at the wafer edge and the causal relationship of these cracks to wafer breakage is a difficult task. By way of understanding the wafer breakage process, a series of nano-indents were introduced both into 20 × 20 mm (100) wafer pieces and into whole wafers as a means of introducing controlled strain. Visualization of the three-dimensional structure of crystal defects has been demonstrated. The silicon samples were then treated by various thermal anneal processes to initiate the formation of dislocation loops around the indents. This article reports the three-dimensional X-ray diffraction imaging and visualization of the structure of these dislocations. A series of X-ray section topographs of both the indents and the dislocation loops were taken at the ANKA Synchrotron, Karlsruhe, Germany. The topographs were recorded on a CCD system combined with a high-resolution scintillator crystal and were measured by repeated cycles of exposure and sample translation along a direction perpendicular to the beam. The resulting images were then rendered into three dimensions utilizing open-source three-dimensional medical tomography algorithms that show the dislocation loops formed. Furthermore this technique allows for the production of a video (avi) file showing the rotation of the rendered topographs around any defined axis. The software also has the capability of splitting the image along a segmentation line and viewing the internal structure of the strain fields.

Diffraction by crystals

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Blow
Keyword(s):  
Fourier Transform ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Incident Beam ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Angle Of Incidence ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Max Von Laue ◽  
The Fourier Transform

In Chapter 4 many two-dimensional examples were shown, in which a diffraction pattern represents the Fourier transform of the scattering object. When a diffracting object is three-dimensional, a new effect arises. In diffraction by a repetitive object, rays are scattered in many directions. Each unit of the lattice scatters, but a diffracted beam arises only if the scattered rays from each unit are all in phase. Otherwise the scattering from one unit is cancelled out by another. In two dimensions, there is always a direction where the scattered rays are in phase for any order of diffraction (just as shown for a one-dimensional scatterer in Fig. 4.1). In three dimensions, it is only possible for all the points of a lattice to scatter in phase if the crystal is correctly oriented in the incident beam. The amplitudes and phases of all the scattered beams from a three-dimensional crystal still provide the Fourier transform of the three-dimensional structure. But when a crystal is at a particular angular orientation to the X-ray beam, the scattering of a monochromatic beam provides only a tiny sample of the total Fourier transform of its structure. In the next section, we are going to find what is needed to allow a diffracted beam to be generated. We shall follow a treatment invented by Lawrence Bragg in 1913. Max von Laue, who discovered X-ray diffraction in 1912, used a different scheme of analysis; and Paul Ewald introduced a new way of looking at it in 1921. These three methods are referred to as the Laue equations, Bragg’s law and the Ewald construction, and they give identical results. All three are described in many crystallographic text books. Bragg’s method is straightforward, understandable, and suffices for present needs. I had heard J.J. Thomson lecture about…X-rays as very short pulses of radiation. I worked out that such pulses…should be reflected at any angle of incidence by the sheets of atoms in the crystal as if these sheets were mirrors.…It remained to explain why certain of the atomic mirrors in the zinc blende [ZnS] crystal reflected more powerfully than others.

Diffraction

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Blow
Keyword(s):  
Red Light ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
X Rays ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Original Direction ◽  
Computational Procedures ◽  
Scattering Material ◽  
Opaque Object ◽  
Diffraction Effects

Diffraction refers to the effects observed when light is scattered into directions other than the original direction of the light, without change of wavelength. An X-ray photon may interact with an electron and set the electron oscillating with the X-ray frequency. The oscillating electron may radiate an X-ray photon of the same wavelength, in a random direction, when it returns to its unexcited state. Other processes may also occur, akin to fluorescence, which emit X-rays of longer wavelengths, but these processes do not give diffraction effects. Just as we see a red card because red light is scattered off the card into our eyes, objects are observed with X-rays because an illuminating X-ray beam is scattered into the X-ray detector. Our eye can analyse details of the card because its lens forms an image on the retina. Since no X-ray lens is available, the scattered X-ray beam cannot be converted directly into an image. Indirect computational procedures have to be used instead. X-rays are penetrating radiation, and can be scattered from electrons throughout the whole scattering object, while light only shows the external shape of an opaque object like a red card. This allows X-rays to provide a truly three-dimensional image. When X-rays pass near an atom, only a tiny fraction of them is scattered: most of the X-rays pass further into the object, and usually most of them come straight out the other side of the whole object. In forming an image, these ‘straight through’ X-rays tell us nothing about the structure, and they are usually captured by a beam stop and ignored. This chapter begins by explaining that the diffraction of light or X-rays can provide a precise physical realization of Fourier’s method of analysing a regularly repeating function. This method may be used to study regularly repeating distributions of scattering material. Beginning in one dimension, examples will be used to bring out some fundamental features of diffraction analysis. Graphic examples of two-dimensional diffraction provide further demonstrations. Although the analysis in three dimensions depends on exactly the same principles, diffraction by a three-dimensional crystal raises additional complications.

scholarly journals Gold Exploration in Two and Three Dimensions: Improved and Correlative Insights from Microscopy and X-Ray Computed Tomography

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 476
Author(s):  
Joshua Chisambi ◽  
Bjorn von der Heyden ◽  
Muofhe Tshibalanganda ◽  
Stephan Le Roux
Keyword(s):  
Computed Tomography ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Gold Mineralization ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
X Ray ◽  
3D Space ◽  
X Ray Computed ◽  
2D And 3D

In this contribution, we highlight a correlative approach in which three-dimensional structural/positional data are combined with two dimensional chemical and mineralogical data to understand a complex orogenic gold mineralization system; we use the Kirk Range (southern Malawi) as a case study. Three dimensional structures and semi-quantitative mineral distributions were evaluated using X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) and this was augmented with textural, mineralogical and chemical imaging using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy as well as fire assay. Our results detail the utility of the correlative approach both for quantifying gold concentrations in core samples (which is often nuggety and may thus be misrepresented by quarter- or half-core assays), and for understanding the spatial distribution of gold and associated structures and microstructures in 3D space. This approach overlays complementary datasets from 2D and 3D analytical protocols, thereby allowing a better and more comprehensive understanding on the distribution and structures controlling gold mineralization. Combining 3D XCT analyses with conventional 2D microscopies derive the full value out of a given exploration drilling program and it provides an excellent tool for understanding gold mineralization. Understanding the spatial distribution of gold and associated structures and microstructures in 3D space holds vast potential for exploration practitioners, especially if the correlative approach can be automated and if the resultant spatially-constrained microstructural information can be fed directly into commercially available geological modelling software. The extra layers of information provided by using correlative 2D and 3D microscopies offer an exciting new tool to enhance and optimize mineral exploration workflows, given that modern exploration efforts are targeting increasingly complex and low-grade ore deposits.

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