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Radiography in Modern Industry - Kodak

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e noted here. Although the average gradient of a film (film contrast) may be unaffected by achange of development time, <strong>in</strong>creased development time may result <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong>radiographic contrast, that is, density differences <strong>in</strong> the radiograph. This is illustrated by the figurebelow <strong>in</strong> which are plotted the characteristic curves of a typical <strong>in</strong>dustrial x-ray film for 5 and 8m<strong>in</strong>utes' development. These curves are of the same shape, <strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g that the average gradientsare the same for both times of development. The lateral spac<strong>in</strong>g along the logarithm of relativeexposure axis is a measure of the speed <strong>in</strong>crease result<strong>in</strong>g from the <strong>in</strong>creased development.Figure 123: Portions of the characteristic curves of a typical <strong>in</strong>dustrial x-ray filmdeveloped for 5 and 8 m<strong>in</strong>utes. Density differences correspond<strong>in</strong>g to pairs of exposuresdiffer<strong>in</strong>g by 25 percent are shown for each development time. (The scale of the figure isexpanded from that of earlier figures for ease of illustration.)Consider two slightly different thicknesses <strong>in</strong> a specimen, one transmitt<strong>in</strong>g 25 percent more x-radiation than the other. The difference <strong>in</strong> log relative exposure between the two areas of thespecimen (∆ log E) is 0.10. With a certa<strong>in</strong> exposure time (Exposure 1), a radiograph developedfor 5 m<strong>in</strong>utes has a density of 0.36 (∆ D 5 ) between the two areas. On a radiograph given thesame exposure but developed for 8 m<strong>in</strong>utes, the density difference is 0.55 (∆ D 8 ). If, however, theexposure time is decreased to just compensate for the <strong>in</strong>creased film speed at 8 m<strong>in</strong>utes'development (Exposure 2), the log relative exposures correspond<strong>in</strong>g to the two areas of thespecimen are moved to the left, although the spac<strong>in</strong>g between them (<strong>in</strong> terms of log exposure)rema<strong>in</strong>s constant. In this latter case, the density difference for 8 m<strong>in</strong>utes development is thesame as that for 5 m<strong>in</strong>utes, that is, 0.36. This, of course, is merely a further illustration of the factthat the density difference correspond<strong>in</strong>g to a certa<strong>in</strong> difference <strong>in</strong> relative x-ray exposuredepends on the region of the characteristic curve where the exposures fall.X-Ray Spectral SensitivityAs has been po<strong>in</strong>ted out, the shape of the characteristic curve of an x-ray film is unaffected, forpractical purposes, by the wavelength (energy) of the x-rays or gamma rays to which the film isexposed. However, the sensitivity of the film, <strong>in</strong> terms of the number of roentgens required toproduce a given density, is strongly affected by the energy (wavelength) of the expos<strong>in</strong>gradiation.<strong>Radiography</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Modern</strong> <strong>Industry</strong> 193

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