Phase contrast and X-ray dark field imaging: New possibilities for analyzing tooth re-construction

2^nd International Conference and Expo on Ceramics & Composite Materials

July 25-26, 2016 Berlin, Germany

A Dommann, O Kuzior, S Hartmann, R Kaufmann and A Neels

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Composite materials have been attracting increasing attention as materials for tooth recon-struction. In medical technology the ceramic reinforced polymers offer a wide range of oppor-tunities. Specific advantages of these composite materials are their robustness, properties for biocompatibility which make them so appealing for tooth reconstruction. For tooth reconstruction, however, not only new manufacturing processes but also appropriate non-destructive testing and characterization tools are required. The presentation concentrates on a novel technique that has demonstrated great potential for non-destructive testing (NDT) and non-destructive evaluation (NDE). This method uses the Talbot-Lau grating interferometer principle. It enables X-ray insights extended by two additional contrast mechanisms: X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging (XPCI) and Scatter Dark Field Imaging (SDFI). Conventional radio-graphic systems, based on the absorption of x-rays in the sample, have limited contrast for light materials such as polymersand biological tissues. XPCI, on the other hand, is able to re-veal subtle changes in the microstructure of the samples, such as micro-cracks in composite.

Biography :

A Dommann is heading the Department of Materials meet Life at Empa since 2013. He re-ceived his PhD in Solid State Physics in 1988 from ETH, Zurich in Switzerland. His research concentrates on the surface analysis, bio surface interactions, structuring, coating and charac-terization of thin films and MEMS structures. He is a member of different national and inter-national committees and teaches Materials for Medtech, Crystallography and MEMS technol-ogy at different Swiss universities and has published more than 130 papers in the fields of thin films, coatings, MEMS, reliability and material characterization. He is also a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) and in 2016 he was appointed as Adjunct Professor at the University of Berne.

Email: alex.dommann@empa.ch