The ability to see inside solid objects in 3D and non-destructively with x-ray tomography is providing great new opportunities in many areas of research for enhanced multi-scale understanding of materials and structures. Such imaging can be performed in medical-CT type devices for large samples and, for more detailed analysis, in laboratory devices or at large-scale synchrotron facilities. Regarding applications to wood and wood-based materials x-ray tomography has been employed to characterise structures from the bulk (trunk) scale down to the fibre scale. Furthermore, extension of 3D imaging to 4D (3D + time) can provide new understanding of evolving processes at the heart of material behaviour, e.g., during environmental, chemical, mechanical, humidity or thermal loading. In this presentation, the possibilities of using 3D and 4D x-ray imaging to understand structures and processes in wood and wood-based materials will be discussed and illustrated through a number of different applications.
Keywords: x-ray tomography, 3D and 4D imaging, wood structure
Authors
Stephen Hall
Division of Solid Mechanics, Lund University & LINXS – Lund Institute of Advanced Neutron and X-ray Science, Lund, Sweden
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