Visualization of hydrides in titanium by means of diffraction-enhanced X-ray imaging

The diffraction-enhanced X-ray imaging technique was applied for the observation of titanium polycrystals containing titanium hydride. Hydrides in titanium were formed by annealing in 1 atm hydrogen gas and by electrolytic charging for cross-sectional observations. Although the hydrides in titanium cannot be observed by conventional radiography that utilizes absorption of X-rays, we were able to obtain a high-contrast projection image of a hydride using refraction-contrast radiography. The study shows that this is a promising new technique for non-destructive inspection of bulk material systems with only small differences between refraction indexes of the components.