X-rays are commonly used to characterize a broad spectrum of materials

Of great interest is th detection of the density distribution in a specimen as well as cracks and pores. But the detection of e.g. cracks and pores are limited by the resolution of the used detector. The cracks will not be detected, if they are smaller than the detector elements. This article describes a new method called Synchrotron-Refraction-Computed-Tomography, which overcomes this bottleneck. It is based on the phenomenon of small angle scattering by refraction of X-rays at interfaces of microscopic structured objects. The potential of the new method is demonstrated by a comparative investigation between an absorption based and a refraction based computed tomography measurement conducted on the same specimen. (orig.)