Citizens' Campus: Component screening and structure elucidation with X-rays

In technical radiography, bremsstrahlung with energies up to 7 MeV is used (medicine max. 150 keV). This allows very large components, such as vehicles or airplanes, to be examined. The formation of contrasts and the limits will be explained in the lecture using the example of a champagne cork.

The X-ray spectrum still contains the characteristic radiation, only 8 keV energy. However, the intensity of this radiation component is 25 - 35 greater than that of the Bremspectrum.

In suitable systems, this monochromatic radiation interacts with the crystal structure, the regular atomic structure. BRAGG's equation can be used to reliably measure changes in the atomic distances in the picometer range. This is 1000 times smaller than the nanometer technique, but has been practiced since 1912 (1916)! The lecture will show the examination of a horse muzzle from the Anger Museum in Erfurt.

The speaker, Prof. Dr. Lothar Spieß, has worked on research projects with various, also newly procured equipment at the TU Ilmenau in the Institute of Materials Engineering since graduating in 1982 until his retirement in August 2022, has given lectures on this and has compiled a textbook, which has been published in several editions since 2005.

Admission: 5 Euro