Gold grains scanned at various resolutions

This project was to develop and test a method to measure the size and shape of particles that are small relative to the scan resolution, in a way that is accurate, reproducible, objective, and resolution-invariant. The scans are of an artificial core containing 12 gold grains embedded in quartz powder and epoxy (some iron filings are also mixed in), with sizes ranging from 100-300 microns (sphere-equivalent diameter), and a range of shapes. There are 12 different scans on two instruments, with varying resolution, X-ray energy, and amount and type of additional embedding material (quartz, garnet) to simulate scanning small grains within progressively larger cores. Scan resolutions range from 10-50 microns.