Dynamic Micro-CT Imaging of Cooling-Induced Crystallization: Real-time visualization of crystal growth and dissolution inside a porous sample during in-situ cooling  

Salt crystallization in porous materials is a widespread challenge in fields such as building-material durability, cultural-heritage conservation, soils, and subsurface energy storage, where changes in temperature, moisture, saturation, or solution chemistry can trigger crystal formation inside pore networks. 

These crystals can occupy available space, reduce pore connectivity, influence fluid transport, and generate local stresses that may lead to progressive material degradation. The process remains difficult to predict because it evolves at the pore scale, where nucleation, growth, and dissolution depend on local geometry and changing thermodynamic conditions. These pore-scale dynamics cannot be fully captured by conventional static or time-lapse imaging.

Discover how Tescan UniTOM® HR helps overcome this challenge by combining true dynamic 4D micro-CT imaging with high-resolution structural characterization, enabling real-time, non-destructive visualization of cooling-induced crystallization and dissolution inside porous materials. This dynamic-to-detail workflow also reveals when and where crystals form, how individual clusters evolve, and how final crystal morphology relates to the pore structure.