Film Processing

As mentioned previously, radiographic film consists of a transparent, blue-tinted base coated on both sides with an emulsion. The emulsion consists of gelatin containing microscopic, radiation sensitive silver halide crystals, such as silver bromide and silver chloride. When x-rays, gamma rays or light rays strike the the crystals or grains, some of the Br^- ions are liberated and captured by the Ag⁺ ions. In this condition, the radiograph is said to contain a latent (hidden) image because the change in the grains is virtually undetectable, but the exposed grains are now more sensitive to reaction with the developer.

When the film is processed, it is exposed to several different chemicals solutions for controlled periods of time. Processing film basically involves the following five steps.

• Development - The developing agent gives up electrons to convert the silver halide grains to metallic silver. Grains that have been exposed to the radiation develop more rapidly, but given enough time the developer will convert all the silver ions into silver metal. Proper temperature control is needed to convert exposed grains to pure silver while keeping unexposed grains as silver halide crystals.
• Stopping the development - The stop bath simply stops the development process by diluting and washing the developer away with water.
• Fixing - Unexposed silver halide crystals are removed by the fixing bath. The fixer dissolves only silver halide crystals, leaving the silver metal behind.
• Washing - The film is washed with water to remove all the processing chemicals.
• Drying - The film is dried for viewing.

Processing film is a strict science governed by rigid rules of chemical concentration, temperature, time, and physical movement. Whether processing is done by hand or automatically by machine, excellent radiographs require a high degree of consistency and quality control.

Manual Processing & Darkrooms
Manual processing begins with the darkroom. The darkroom should be located in a central location, adjacent to the reading room and a reasonable distance from the exposure area. For portability, darkrooms are often mounted on pickups or trailers.

Film should be located in a light, tight compartment, which is most often a metal bin that is used to store and protect the film. An area next to the film bin that is dry and free of dust and dirt should be used to load and unload the film. Another area, the wet side, should be used to process the film. This method protects the film from any water or chemicals that may be located on the surface of the wet side.

Each of step in the film processing must be excited properly to develop the image, wash out residual processing chemicals, and to provide adequate shelf life of the radiograph. The objective of processing is two fold: first, to produce a radiograph adequate for viewing, and second, to prepare the radiograph for archival storage. Radiographs are often stored for 20 years or more as a record of the inspection.

Automatic Processor Evaluation
The automatic processor is the essential piece of equipment in every x-ray department. The automatic processor will reduce film processing time when compared to manual development by a factor of four. To monitor the performance of a processor, apart from optimum temperature and mechanical checks, chemical and sensitometric checks should be performed for developer and fixer. Chemical checks involve measuring the pH values of the developer and fixer as well as both replenishers. Also, the specific gravity and fixer silver levels must be measured. Ideally, pH should be measured daily and it is important to record these measurements, as regular logging provides very useful information. The daily measurements of pH values for the developer and fixer can then be plotted to observe the trend of variations in these values compared to the normal pH operating levels to identify problems.

Sensitometric checks may be carried out to evaluate if the performance of films in the automatic processors is being maximized. These checks involve measurement of basic fog level, speed and average gradient made at 1° C intervals of temperature. The range of temperature measurement depends on the type of chemistry in use, whether cold or hot developer. These three measurements: fog level, speed, and average gradient, should then be plotted against temperature and compared with the manufacturer's supplied figures.