Crystal X Ray

Some industries use X rays to look for flaws in their products, but the apparatus is expensive, cumbersome. This week G E announced a new X-ray detector that enables simple equipment to do many inspecting jobs.

Heart of the system is an artificially grown crystal of cadmium sulphide, which acts as a sort of amplifier tube when excited by X radiation. It multiplies by 1,000,000 the energy it gets from X rays so the X-ray generator can be weak, cheap, safe.

In practice, a slender pencil of X rays is shot through the material to be examined. The rays that pass through are detected by the crystal and turned into electric current. If the current is stronger than standard, indicating a void or flaw in the material, the apparatus rings a bell or flashes a light.

The new gadget has already inspected, by X ray, such products as rubber heels blasting fuses, cans of baby food and other packaged goods. Its first full-scale use is in a military production problem that G.E. cannot talk about.

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