Requirements for commercial X-ray element-specifc imaging technology

Analysis of the composition of material samples non-destructively by means of standard X-ray tube imaging is extremely challenging due to the breadth of the bremsstrahlung spectrum, resulting from mono-energetic electrons striking a thick tungsten target. In previous work, stacks of registered field-flattened images of various samples over an energy range 15-150 keVwere created and analysed. Attempts to remove the effects of the broad spectrum proved the concept of element-specific imaging, but problems still remained. In this work, modification strategies to existing designs are proposed in both hardware and software, which would bolster efforts to remove the effects of the broad X-ray spectrum.