**Contents**



## **About the Special Issue Editors**

**Eric Maire** is a CNRS research director at the MATEIS laboratory, part of the University of Lyon. In 1995 he received a Ph.D. in Materials Sciences from the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon. Since then, he has worked for CNRS in MateIS. He focuses on different aspects of materials ´ science, most of these involving in situ experiments in X-ray computed tomography. He pioneered the technique in 1997 doing in situ tensile tests at the ESRF. He is a co-author of over 250 research articles. He is now head of the MateIS laboratory, gathering 160 researchers in materials science. ´

**J ´er ˆome Adrien** is a CNRS research engineer at the MATEIS laboratory, part of the University of Lyon. In 2004, he received a Ph.D. in Materials Sciences from the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon. For 15 years, he has been managing the laboratory tomographs and contributing to the preparation and execution of synchrotron experiments. He also developed a large number of in situ devices used on both laboratory tomographs and synchrotron devices. He contributed to a large number of publications in collaboration with MATEIS laboratory teams working on various types of materials and with many French and foreign universities.

**Philip John Withers** FRS FREng obtained his PhD in Metallurgy at Cambridge University and took up a lectureship there, before taking up a Chair in Manchester in 1998. He is the first Regius Professor of Materials and Chief Scientist of the Henry Royce Institute. His interests lie in applying advanced techniques to follow the behavior of engineering and natural materials in real time and in 3D, often as they operate under demanding conditions. In 2008, he set up the Henry Moseley X-ray Imaging Facility, which is now one of the most extensive suites of 3D X-ray Imaging facilities in the world.

## **Preface to "In-SituX-rayTomographic Study ofMaterials"**

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is advancing apace both in terms of the spatial resolution that can be achieved and the rate at which the radiographs necessary to reconstruct a 3D image can be collected. These advances combined with the fact that CT is inherently non-destructive mean that X-ray CT is moving simply from the collection of 3D images to the acquisition of 3D movies. Whether it is to collect information of rapidly changing behaviors, such as fracture, where live streaming of many 1000's of radiographs per second are needed to follow the events in situ, exploiting the intensity of a synchrotron X-ray source, or the longer timescales associated with long term oxidation, where time-lapse ex situ observations made by laboratory CT sources, X-ray CT provides unique insights into the behavior of natural and man-made materials that simply cannot be obtained by any other means.

This book is a collection of chapters. It celebrates the possibilities for gaining inside information through time resolved X-ray CT looking both at the technical developments and opportunities for improving the quality and quantification of the image data we collect to the range of questions that X-ray CT can shine light upon. It is clear from this collection that many different environments and external constraints can be applied to the materials in situ whether to form the material or to observe its degradation or healing. We are sure that these chapters only represent the tip of the iceberg and that time-resolved X-ray CT, whether exploiting the intensity of a synchrotron or the accessibility or laboratory CT systems, will continue to develop into an indispensable characterization tool, alongside optical and electron microscopy. Further, we believe that the imaging modes, whether to detect subtle changes in phase, crystallographic structure or to fingerprint the elements contained in phases, will expand to provide an even richer picture of the internal structure of materials and their evolution over time than we can achieve today. We hope that this book shows the future or time resolved imaging is indeed very bright.

> **Eric Maire, J´er ˆome Adrien, Philip J. Withers** *Special Issue Editors*
