Phoenix Neutron Imaging | Taking Neutrons To New Heights

2019: A Year In Review

2019 was a big year for Phoenix. Some years are years of exciting new beginnings; some are years of satisfying conclusions. For us, 2019 was largely a year of monumental middle chapters—small steps and great leaps alike on the journeys we’re on to better our world through innovations in nuclear technology.

Small Steps and Great Leaps: 2019 in the News

The period from Q4 of 2018 to Q1 of 2019 saw us break ground on PNIC and complete an audit of our quality management system, ringing in the new year with a new facility springing up from the ground in Fitchburg and an ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100 Rev D certified quality management system (QMS). This made us the first industrial radiography vendor to have a QMS that meets both of these rigorous sets of standards.

In April 2019, we secured $4 million in funding from the US Army to demonstrate neutron-based NDT equipment. Later that year, we successfully performed a demonstration of PNIC’s thermal and fast neutron radiographic capabilities. This was another leg of our ongoing journey with the US Army, which has been ongoing since 2007. In addition to funding the demonstration of our neutron imaging capabilities, our latest contract will also help us take the first steps toward combining the data from neutron radiographs and X-ray imaging to create hybrid images with unprecedented detail.

The summer of 2019 was an especially noteworthy one, both for us and for our sister company SHINE Medical Technologies. In June, we ran a 132-hour test of a critical component of SHINE’s medical isotope production system, our high-flux neutron generators. The weekly SHINE production cycle will require our fusion neutron generators to operate continuously for 5.5 days with better than 95% uptime in order to maximize production of molybdenum-99, the radioactive isotope that makes many lifesaving medical procedures possible. In this test, we produced a neutron yield 10% higher than required with an uptime higher than 99%.

That wasn’t the only milestone we and SHINE set last year. Later in October, we performed another test of SHINE’s isotope production system, and this time, we set a new record for the highest neutron yield in a steady-state fusion neutron source. With an output of over 46 trillion neutrons per second, we blew past the previous record for a sustained fusion neutron yield, set in the 1980s, by nearly 25%.

Fall was a hectic time of year, as it always was, with work on the construction of PNIC nearing completion. Twelve months after breaking ground on our new location, we conducted an official grand opening event and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility, celebrating all the hard work we’ve done to build the world’s first industrial radiography vendor to provide neutron radiography without a nuclear reactor.

All Phoenix staff members gathered at a ribbon-cutting ceremony — Ribbon cutting with the attending staff of Phoenix

Cutting the ribbon at PNIC was far from the end for our work. In the last months of 2019, we put our noses to the grindstone and began working to fulfill early orders for key aerospace manufacturers, demonstrating our facility’s ability to produce Category I neutron radiographs, the highest possible image quality defined by ASTM International. We installed the X-ray system at PNIC that gives us the ability to perform both X-ray and N-ray imaging under the same roof and pushed forward in our fast neutron CT work to create 3D neutron images. And as we cut the ribbon at PNIC, we also broke ground on our new headquarters on the same site, taking another monumental step on our relocation to the city of Fitchburg.

Check out the City of Fitchburg’s five-minute highlight review of the grand opening event!

It wasn’t just neutron imaging and nuclear medicine keeping our engineers busy last year, though. We also completed testing of our mobile IED detection system NEMESIS, and two of our under-development nuclear fuel scanner systems passed their factory acceptance tests. The neutron-based radiation survivability testing system we developed for the German Ministry of Defense was installed and completed its Site Acceptance Test. We also taught a course on neutron imaging at 2019’s ASNT Annual Conference to spread the word about neutron imaging in the NDT community.

Delivery of radiation testing equipment on a semi truck trailer — GMOD radiation effects system installation

Installation of radiation testing equipment — NEMESIS in action in a test run at the site of our new facility

2019 by the Numbers

In the past year, we…

Doubled our revenue from 2017
Added 22 new staff members and 13 new interns
Secured $9.5 million in private equity funding
Generated 46 trillion neutrons per second with a sustained fusion reaction
Broke ground on a 50,000 square foot headquarters in Fitchburg

Where Did We Go?

While our engineers were hard at work making all of this year’s sizable accomplishments possible (and we simply can’t understate how sizable these accomplishments are or how proud we are of our engineers for everything they’ve done here at Phoenix last year), our applications specialists were out there spreading the good word about Phoenix’s neutron generators. Some of the conferences we attended in 2019 included:

ICYMI: Who’s Talking About Us?

Phoenix got a lot of media buzz in 2019, between our record-breaking tests and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. In addition to a few of our own articles we published in industry publications, here are a few of the pieces that covered our exciting innovations:

Molecular Imaging News: From Outsourced to Insourced in Radiology Today
Breaking Down Barriers: Standards and Neutron Imaging in ASTM Standardization News
Record breaking fusion reaction could transform medical isotope production in Physics World
Nuclear’s Future Could Be in Wisconsin Feeding Moly Cows in Bloomberg Business
Nuclear fusion process could create US supply of Mo-99 in Healthcare Business News
Advanced technology company Phoenix opens first phase of Fitchburg campus in the Wisconsin State Journal
Highest possible neutron imaging quality achieved at Phoenix NDT center in Aerospace Testing International
Op Ed: Celebrating the Neutron Economy in Urban Milwaukee
Wisconsin nuclear tech company opens ‘one of a kind’ imaging center in Fitchburg in the Milwaukee Business Journal
Wisconsin firms hope to make radioactive isotopes for nuclear medicine in Engaget
SHINE, Phoenix Set World Record in Madison Startups
How a Wisconsin company figured out how to make nuclear isotopes — a vital component of heart scans in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
New ways to make molybdenum-99 in The Economist
Neutron Imaging: Past, Present, and Future in BiNDT Insight

Our very own Dr. Evan Sengbusch also stepped up to give interviews about Phoenix on two technology podcasts in 2019:

Titans of Nuclear: Evan Sengbusch
Future tech Podcast: Reactor-Free Neutrons: Medical & Industrial Advances with Dr. Sengbusch

And last but not least, by far one of the most fun and exciting social media events we participated in last year was the AMA (Ask Me Anything) session we hosted on Reddit, in which our executive team took an afternoon to answer questions from Reddit users about nuclear fusion, green technology, football (Go Badgers!), ethics, Culvers, and just about everything else under the sun. Will we host another in 2020? Only time will tell…

The X-ray image (left) cannot clearly depict the cooling channels in a batch of blades; however, the channels show up more clearly in a neutron image of the same batch (right).

Aircraft Turbine Blades X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

The manufacturing of jet engine turbine blades is one particular industrial niche for neutron radiography. Turbine blades are cast around ceramic molds which form cooling channels that prevent the blades from melting when exposed to the high temperatures of their operating environments. In manufacturing, fragments of ceramic can clog these cooling channels. A blade with clogged cooling channels could break or even melt while in operation, so such flaws must be rooted out with 100% certainty. The X-ray image (left) cannot clearly depict the cooling channels in a batch of blades; however, the channels show up much clearer in a neutron image of the same batch (right).

gadolinium tagging

This cross section of a turbine blade shows off one of the most useful and unique applications of industrial neutron radiography. The only way to reliably detect the ceramic fragments which can be left within a blade’s cooling channels is to wash the blade in a solution containing gadolinium, an element with a high neutron cross section. Once the gadolinium has permeated the ceramic’s porous structure, the fragments will show up in stark contrast on the resulting neutron image even after the solution has been rinsed off of the rest of the blade.

Beretta 92FS Neutron/X-Ray Imaging Comparison

Neutron radiography is especially useful for imaging munitions. In this neutron image, neutrons interact with parts within the firearm and show details that a high-energy x-ray would not depict, even the presence and position of gunpowder in the cartridge.

170kV X-ray imaging

440kV X-ray imaging

Neutron imaging

Rotary Telephone X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

X-rays and neutrons interact with materials differently, creating unique images. This rotary phone is comprised of many dense and light materials. The lower-energy 170 kV X-rays could not penetrate the denser materials of the phone. The higher-energy 440 kV X-rays could penetrate the denser materials, but was too high-energy to create an image of the lighter materials. The neutron beam could penetrate dense materials but not light materials, creating neutron radiograph that shows more detail of the phone’s inner workings than either X-ray image could on its own. The difference in how neutrons interact with light materials is what makes neutron radiography such a powerful complementary tool to X-ray radiography in materials science, materials research. and non-destructive testing applications.

Flower Neutron Images

Flowers tend to show up very distinctly on both neutron and X-ray images. However, water has a very high neutron scattering cross section, which makes neutron radiography and tomography useful for studying water uptake within root systems and rooted soil.

60kV X-ray imaging

140kV X-ray imaging

200kV X-ray imaging

Neutron imaging

Hand Plane X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

With examples such as this hand plane, it’s “plane” to see how neutron radiography and neutron images can show you details that can’t be seen with X-ray radiography. These three X-ray radiographs of varying energies, looked at as a whole, all together show almost as many details as a single neutron picture!

Welding flux on a copper plate (photo)

Welding flux on a copper plate (X-ray)

Welding flux on a copper plate (neutron image)

Welding Flux X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

Like gadolinium, boron has an extremely large neutron cross section that makes it useful as a contrast agent in neutron imaging, among other things. In this example, welding flux, which contains large quantities of borax, attenuates neutrons particularly well compared to metals such as copper. This makes neutron imaging useful for assessing the quality of welds and making certain that undesirable remnants of flux do not remain on a welded part.

MORE ON boron's neutron contrast properties

An X-Ray image of the fuel injector structures.

An N-Ray image of the fuel injector structures.

The X-ray images (top and center) miss important details regarding the fuel injectors’ structure. The N-ray image (bottom), on the other hand, offers more detail than either X-ray image alone.

Fuel Injector X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

As with the images of the rotary phone, these fuel injectors depict the differences between high and low energy X-ray images as well as neutron imaging. The image taken with 100 kV X-rays misses important details regarding the fuel injectors’ structures because the X-rays cannot easily penetrate the dense outer layers of material. However, the image taken with 190 kV X-rays also misses important details because while the X-rays can pass more easily through the denser material, they also pass too easily through the lighter material as well. Neutron imaging, on the other hand, offers more detail than either of the X-ray radiography images on their own.

In particular, two of the fuel injectors have been clogged with contaminants (we used ketchup, butter, and mustard), which show up as white blockages in the plugs in the neutron image and do not show up at all in the X-ray images. This shows the value of neutron radiography and tomography in rooting out defective parts and other non-destructive testing applications!

INTERACTIVE N-RAY/X-RAY COMPARISON

Click and drag on the vertical line to compare X-ray radiography and neutron radiography images. One advantage neutron imaging methods offer over the X-ray images is that details that did not show up on either the high-energy or low-energy X-rays, such as blockages within the fuel injectors, are visible.

225kV X-ray image

400kV X-ray image

Neutron image

Proxivision Ball Bearings X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

Click and drag on the vertical line to compare X-ray and neutron images.

Neutron Imaging of Hard Disk Drives

Because of the way neutron beams pass easily through dense metal components, the neutron image of the 3.5″ hard disk drive on the left mainly shows the less dense plastic components of the hard drive’s internal structure. the 2.5″ external hard drive on the right is entirely encased in a plastic shell which is more opaque, but not entirely opaque, to the neutron beam.

INTERACTIVE N-RAY/X-RAY COMPARISON

Click and drag on the vertical line to compare X-ray and neutron imaging. To neutron tomography, most of the metal components of the hard disk drive, such as the faceplate, the read/write heads, and the disks themselves, are completely transparent, allowing a clearer look at some components that are not as visible, if at all, in the neutron radiograph compared to the X-ray image.

We’re batty for neutron radiography at Phoenix!

Unlike X-rays, neutrons are attenuated heavily by flesh and muscle, giving a unique perspective to the radiographic image of these bat specimens. That is one of several reasons why your dentist probably isn’t interested in shooting neutron radiation at your teeth during your dental check-up.

Neutron Radiography of Consumer Electronics

Neutron radiography can provide an interesting look into consumer electronics. As in the hard drive images, the plastic tends to be more opaque to neutrons in the neutron beam than most of the electronic components, providing a unique view of the structures of these items.

Photograph

X-ray image

Neutron image

Personal Safe X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

Your secrets aren’t safe from X-ray vision or neutron vision, but both forms of radiography show quite different perspectives in these images. Plastic components, which are rich in hydrogen, are particularly opaque on the neutron images but much more transparent on the X-ray images due to the high neutron attenuation of plastics and other hydrogen compounds. A closeup of the Honeywell safe shows that neutron imaging could even pick up on the details of the embossed logo on the door to the safe!

Flashlight X-Ray/Neutron Imaging Comparison

Both neutron radiography and X-ray radiography can offer distinct advantages over each other. In these images, both depict unique features of the flashlight in question. Phoenix is currently working on imaging methods to seamlessly combine the data from X-ray and neutron imaging together into hybrid images, which would allow for an unparalleled look into an object’s inner working for cases in which both X-ray radiography and neutron radiography provide indispensable data.

*N-ray image on top. X-ray image on the bottom.

Neutron Radiography of a Jar of Staples

Click and drag on the vertical line to compare X-ray and neutron imaging. For a rather offbeat comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of X-ray and neutron imaging, we filled a glass jar with staples and a single plastic figurine. In the X-ray image, only the staples are visible. With neutron imaging, the staples are far less visible, but the figurine hidden within is entirely visible as the neutrons interact more heavily with the plastic.

Taking Neutrons To New Heights

2019: A Year In Review