Patent ID: 6178218
Filing Date: 2001-01-23
Classification: G01N,G21G

Abstract:
A method for the nondestructive determination of embrittlement, fatigue or dislocations within a metal, comprising:(a) providing a metal specimen having a positron emitter source therein;(b) activating the positron emitter source by neutron activation to generate gamma ray energy from positron annihilation within the metal specimen, the gamma rays then being emitted from the metal specimen;(c) detecting the emitted gamma rays and establishing a width and high momentum structure of a detected 511 keV peak;(d) comparing the established width and high momentum structure of the 511 keV peak with a width and high momentum structure of a 511 keV gamma ray peak from positron annihilation of a known metal sample, said known metal sample being metallurgically similar in its composition to the metal specimen, and said known metal sample having known embrittlement or fatigue characteristics, whereby said comparison facilitates characterization of embrittlement, fatigue or dislocations within the metal specimen.