Assessing manufacturing defects in ceramic composites with both simulated and experimental synchrotron computed tomography

Written by: Iwan T. Mitchell, Fabio Martini, Gareth F. Stephens, Simon C. Middleburgh and Franck P. Vidal
Published on:

Summary

Non-destructive testing using X-ray computer tomography (XCT) has been used to assess the applicability of visualising ceramic kernels held within a dissimilar ceramic matrix. Simulations were performed to ascertain the feasibility of CT scans of such samples, and optimise the scanning parameters offline. Corresponding experiments were carried out to assess the defects in the structure that exist as a result of manufacturing methods in zirconium diboride (ZrB2) kernels held within a zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) matrix material. Ceramic–ceramic matrix composites are garnering a great deal of interest in a number of applications, including as nuclear fuels for high temperature gas reactors and the methodology presented has potential to be of use in assessing the position and state of pellets incorporated into a ceramic matrix, whilst being able to detect features such as cracks, porosity and interfaces between kernels and the matrix. Computer modelling of the composites supports the experimental observations and has been used to assess the plausibility of assessing a higher density of kernels held within a ceramic matrix that will support ongoing work, whilst highlighting a valid method for periodical assessment of fuel manufacturing processes.

Award

Best paper award for tomography outreach tools
Vidal, F. P., Afshari, S., Ahmed, S., Atkins, C., Béchet, É., Corbí Bellot, A., ... Tugwell-Allsup, J. (2024). Müller, B., & Wang, G. (Eds.). "X-ray simulations with gVXR as a useful tool for education, data analysis, set-up of CT scans, and scanner development". Developments in X-Ray Tomography XV, SPIE Optics & Photonics 2024. DOI: 10.1117/12.3025315

Publications

  • Vidal, F. P. et al (2024, Nov). X-ray simulations with gVXR as a useful tool for education, data analysis, set-up of CT scans, and scanner development. Developments in X-Ray Tomography XV, SPIE Optics & Photonics 2024. doi:10.1117/12.3025315 .
  • Vidal, F. P. et al (2025, Nov). X-ray simulations with gVXR in education, digital twining, experiment planning, and data analysis. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165804 .
  • Mitchell, I. T., Martini, F., Stephens, G. F., Iwan T. Mitchell, Fabio Martini, Gareth F. Stephens, Middleburgh, S. C. & Vidal, F. P. (2026 , Jan). Assessing manufacturing defects in ceramic composites with both simulated and experimental synchrotron computed tomography. Progress in Nuclear Energy. doi: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2025.106002 .

Citations

@article{MITCHELL2026PNE,
	author = {Mitchell, Iwan T. and Martini, Fabio and Stephens, Gareth F. and 
    Middleburgh, Simon C. and Vidal, Franck P.},
	doi = {10.1016/j.pnucene.2025.106002},
	issn = {0149-1970},
	journal = {Progress in Nuclear Energy},
	keywords = {Nuclear fuels; Kernel fuels; Composite; X-ray computed tomography (XCT); 
    Non-destructive testing (NDT); Synchrotron tomography},
	pages = {106002},
	title = {{Assessing manufacturing defects in ceramic composites with both simulated and 
    experimental synchrotron computed tomography}},
	volume = {190},
	year = {2026},
}

@article{Vidal2025NIMB,
	author = {Vidal, Franck P. and Afshari, Shaghayegh and Ahmed, Sharif and 
    Albiol, Alberto and Albiol, Francisco and B{\'e}chet, {\'E}ric and 
    Bellot, Alberto Corb{\'\i} and Bosse, Stefan and Burkhard, Simon and 
    Chahid, Younes and Chou, Cheng-Ying and Culver, Robert and 
    Desbarats, Pascal and Dixon, Lewis and Friemann, Johan and 
    Garbout, Amin and Garc{\'\i}a-Lorenzo, Marcos and 
    Giovannelli, Jean-Fran{\c c}ois and Hanna, Ross and 
    Hatton, Cl{\'e}mentine and Henry, Audrey and Kelly, Graham and 
    Leblanc, Christophe and Leonardi, Alberto and L{\'e}tang, Jean Michel and 
    Lipscomb, Harry and Manchester, Tristan and Meere, Bas and 
    Michelet, Claire and Middleburgh, Simon and Mihail, Radu P. and 
    Mitchell, Iwan and Perera, Liam and Puig, Mart{\'\i} and Racy, Malek and 
    Rouwane, Ali and Seznec, Herv{\'e} and S{\'u}jar, Aaron and 
    Tugwell-Allsup, Jenna and Villard, Pierre-Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric},
	doi = {10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165804},
	issn = {0168-583X},
	journal = {Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: 
    Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms},
	keywords = {X-ray imaging; Computed tomography; Simulation; 
    GPU programming; Digital twinning; Registration; Machine learning},
	pages = {165804},
	title = {{X-ray simulations with gVXR in education, digital twining, experiment planning, and data analysis}},
	volume = 568,
	year = 2025,
}

@inproceedings{Vidal2024SPIE,
  author = {Franck P. Vidal and Shaghayegh Afshari and Sharif Ahmed and
    Carolyn Atkins and {\'E}ric B{\'e}chet and Alberto Corb{\'i} Bellot and
    Stefan Bosse and Younes Chahid and Cheng-Ying Chou and Robert Culver and
    Lewis Dixon and Johan Friemann and Amin Garbout and Cl{\'e}mentine Hatton and
    Audrey Henry and Christophe Leblanc and Alberto Leonardi and
    Jean Michel L{\'e}tang and Harry Lipscom and Tristan Manchester and
    Bas Meere and Simon Middleburgh and Iwan Mitchell and Liam Perera and
    Mart{\'i} Puig and Jenna Tugwell-Allsup},
  title = {{X-ray simulations with gVXR as a useful tool for education, 
    data analysis, set-up of CT scans, and scanner development}},
  volume = {13152},
  booktitle = {Developments in X-Ray Tomography XV},
  editor = {Bert M{\"u}ller and Ge Wang},
  organization = {International Society for Optics and Photonics},
  publisher = {SPIE},
  pages = {131520W},
  keywords = {X-ray imaging, Computed tomography (CT), Simulation, 
    Digital twinning, Graphics processor unit (GPU) programming, 
    Image registration, Digitally reconstructed radiograph (DRR), 
    Machine learning},
  year = {2024},
  doi = {10.1117/12.3025315},
}