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X-ray multi-projection imaging for studying the deformation of wood and cellulose-based materials
- Korneliya Gordeyeva
- 3D imaging is known to be a powerful technique for visualizing objects. Specifically, X-ray tomography experiments involve an X-ray beam illuminating a rotating sample with a specific rotation step size. Some modern tomographs can collect the full set of data within less than a second to study not only static samples but dynamic processes in 3D, i.e., acquiring a 4D dataset. However, the fast rotations required to capture subsecond down to millisecond dynamics imposing severe mechanical constraints on the sample and sample environment. Such mechanical constraints preclude the use of tomography for kHz to MHz 4D dynamics except for dynamics resilient to centrifugal forces and very compact sample environments. To overcome such a challenge, a group at Lund University recently developed a new technique called X-ray multiprojection imaging (XMPI). XMPI produces several angularly resolved illuminations that provide 3D information without rotating or scanning the sample. The current setup records three simultaneous projections with up to 10 kHz frame rates and sub-10 μm resolution using the ForMAX beamline at MAX IV. Although the limited number of projections imposes a challenge to retrieving 3D information, novel algorithms have been developed to address this challenge. Those algorithms together with XMPI offer an amazing opportunity to look at the mechanical compression and tension of different types of cellulose or wood-based materials at the ForMAX beamline. The development of expertise in such a novel imaging technique would be invaluable for the characterization of dynamic processes in cellulose-based materials at spatiotemporal resolutions not possible before.
