Beam hardening is a phenomenon where the average energy of a polychromatic X-ray beam increases as it passes through a material. Because lower-energy X-rays are absorbed more readily than higher-energy ones, the remaining beam becomes "harder" as it penetrates deeper into the object.
In Computed Tomography (CT), this effect often causes artifacts, such as the "cupping effect," where a uniform object appears to have a lower density at its center than at its edges. To mitigate this, X-ray inspection systems typically employ metal filters or software correction algorithms to ensure accurate image reconstruction.
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