Image Intensification in Silver Halide Photographic Materials for Detection of High-Energy Radiation by Reprecipitation of Elemental Silver

Abstract

A process for the intensification of silver images on AgHal photographic materials designed for detection of high-energy (X- and γ-ray) radiation was proposed, which is based on the “reprecipitation” of elemental silver and a decrease in its dispersion and comprises the treatment of silver with an aqueous solution containing potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) and potassium chloride or bromide at the first step and with a solution containing tin(II) chloride, potassium thiocyanate, sodium N,N′-ethylenediamine tetraacetate, and potassium hydroxide at the second step. By this process, the optical densities of image over a wide (0.5–2.0) range was increased by a factor of 3–5; as a result, the photographic sensitivity S _0.85 and S _2.00 was enhanced by almost an order of magnitude with the retained or slightly increased gradient g, fog density D ₀, and resolving power of the material.