Effect of scattering correction in neutron imaging of hydrogenous samples using the black body approach

Abstract

The “black body” (BB) method is an experimental approach aiming at correcting scattering artifacts and systematic biases from neutron imaging experiments. It is based on the acquisition of reference images, obtained with an interposed grid of neutron absorbers (BB), from which the background including contaminations of scattering from the sample can be extrapolated. We evaluate in this paper the effect of the BB correction on two experimental datasets acquired with different setups at the NEUTRA and ICON beamlines at the Paul Scherrer Institut. With the two experiments we demonstrate the efficient utilization of the method for 2D as well as 3D data and in particular for kinetic studies. In the first dataset, differently varnished wood samples are studied through time resolved kinetic neutron radiography to evaluate the change in wood moisture content due to changes in relative humidity. In the second case study, engineered soil sample simulating a small experimental bioretention cell with rainfall, also known as rain garden, is imaged through on-the-fly neutron tomography.