Imagine that television real-time method had been invented first and the film technique had been introduced in 1990. Everyone would be impressed with the superb quality, the image permanence, and the ability to interpret the results, by eye, with very simple apparatus. More and more industrial radiography is carried out in difficult locations, pipelines, (onshore and offshore) refineries, chemical plants and power stations are the norm.

The expansion of energy and material requirements, worldwide, has generated the need for industrial radiography inspection in all Geographic Regions with high temperature and high humidity or sub-zero temperatures, as the operating area for radiation sources, film and film processing.

In 1964, Kodak were first to introduce the roller-transport film processing system. This required the adaption of all films to this new method of processing. Until this time, all film had been processed manually, but today 70 percent of all film is processed automatically-this is 30 percent of all locations. The proportion of automatic processing is increasing with the development of small automatic processors.

In the field of quality, there are several standards designed to improve quality in the radiographic operation and others which will create a level of image quality which is acceptable worldwide and which is certified. Within each inspection operation, this will guarantee the quality of the radiographic method, whether carried out in Delhi or Rekyavik, New York or Santiago.

ISO 9001 provides method for the radiographic department to monitor all of their inspection procedures. ISO 5579 will provide the basis for all worldwide radiography. ISO 11-699, and ISO 11-699-2, are the standards concerned with film system quality and with the certification of film system quality in every department.

There are three worldwide film system classification methods EN 584-1, ISO 11699-1 and a new standard being considered by ASTM. All of these standards use two parameters of film system quality- gradient and granularity. Both of these parameters are influenced by processing. Greater solution activity, longer time and higher temperature will increase granularity and can also increase gradient.

To achieve film-system classification in a particular system class, it is necessary to achieve a minimum gradient with a minimum granularity. This is a standard imposed by industry - but it also provides a means of measuring any improvement in film quality and-can be used by a film manufacturer to develop new film emulsions and film systems.

The photographic market for photography films has seen a great advances in quality due to the introduction of tabular grains. It will be possible to introduce this type of grain structure into industrial radiography film emulsions with several distinct advantages. These grains enhance image sharpness and result in a reduction in Uf (representing film unsharpness) in the measurement of total image quality.

The requirement for future film processing is to reduce the cycle time. This improves productivity and can also enhance image quality. An advantage of the new grain structure applied to industrial films results in a shorter process cycle.

These two features provide an improvement in both film quality and access time. At the same time, it is worthwhile to add other features to improve the handling of film in dry regions (to reduce static) and in hot humid area (hardness of emulsion). The application of these features will produce a film capable of improved image quality, shorter access time and which is robust and suitable for the environment of today.