Excillum AB today announced that the first MetalJet D2 microfocus X-ray tube with an increased acceleration voltage from 70 kV to 160 kV was successfully installed and commissioned at a customer’s facility during the week.
The MetalJet series of microfocus X-ray tubes are based on Excillum’s proprietary technology where the conventional solid anode is replaced by a fast flowing jet of liquid metal. The liquid-metal anode has the unique advantage that it is continuously regenerated at very high velocity and that a pristine anode surface therefore always is available even at power densities that would melt and damage a conventional solid anode. The current increase of the acceleration voltage to 160 kV will make the extreme brightness MetalJet technology available for applications requiring more penetration power than offered by previous 70 kV MetalJet tubes. In this way, X-ray-imaging applications such as computed tomography (CT) for non-destructive testing (NDT) or other applications typically requiring high acceleration voltages can benefit from the shorter exposure times offered by the MetalJet technology.
The introduction of the 160 kV MetalJet D2 marks a first step for the MetalJet technology toward the even higher voltages required for many X-ray applications says Björn Hansson, CEO of Excillum. We think that the MetalJet technology will play an important role in enabling X-ray applications requiring high throughput such as inline X-ray inspection and that the increased voltage opens up for inspection of many samples of industrial interest.
The MetalJet sources are furthermore used by several academic customers for research on phase contrast based X-ray imaging techniques. This novel X-ray imaging technology benefit specifically well from the high brightness of the MetalJet X-ray tubes and the increased acceleration voltage will allow for phase contrast imaging of thicker or denser samples.
About Excillum
Excillum was founded in 2007 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Excillum develops, designs, and manufactures extreme-brightness microfocus x-ray sources for demanding applications. For more information about Excillum, please visit www.excillum.com.
Published: March 28, 2013
