The neutron tomography facility of IPEN-CNEN/SP and its potential to investigate ceramic objects from the Brazilian cultural heritage

A neutron tomography (NT) facility was installed at the IEA-R1 nuclear research reactor of the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute IPEN-CNEN/SP. According to the determined operational characteristics, the time spent to obtain a complete tomography is 4,000s at a neutron flux of 1×10(6) ncm(-2)s(-1) and the best achievable spatial resolution in the image is 347 μm. The main objectives of this paper are to describe the facility as well as to demonstrate its potential to investigate ceramic objects from the Brazilian cultural heritage left by Indians.