Moisture Imaging of a Camphor Tree by Neutron Beam.
Tomoko Nakanishi, Isamu KARAKAMA, Tsuguo Sakura, Masashi Matsubayashi · RADIOISOTOPES · 1998
Moisture distribution of a camphor tree was presented. A 23 year old camphor tree was downed at university forest and a wood dish, about 1 cm in width, was lumbered out from the breast height of the tree. The wood disk as well as a newly developing branch of the tree were irradiated with thermal neutrons at an atomic reactor installed at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The total flux of thermal neutron was 3.0×109n/cm2.Water specific images of the disk and a branch were presented with high resolution, which was estimated to be about 16μm.In the case of wood disk, moisture decreasing manner while drying was also shown through neutron image. Neutron images showed that the moisture decreasing rate in sapwood was similar to that of heartwood.