Non-destructive porosity profile measurement of amorphous materials by gamma-ray transmission

This work presents measurements of the total porosity of TRe soil, sandstone rocks and porous ceramic samples. For determination of the total porosity, the gamma-ray transmission method and the Archimedes method (conventional) were employed. The porosity measurement using the gamma-ray methodology has a significant advantage with respect to the conventional method due to fast and non-destructive determination, and also for supplying results with a greater spatial resolution, in relation to the heterogeneity of the porosity. The conventional methodologies provide good results only for homogeneous samples. The experimental setup for the gamma-ray transmission technique consisted of a 241Am source (5953 keV), a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector, collimators, a XYZ micrometric table and standard gamma spectrometry electronics connected to a multichannel analyzer.