X-ray tube

X-ray tube, evacuated electron tube that produces X rays by accelerating electrons to a high velocity with a high-voltage field and causing them to collide with a target, the anode plate. The tube consists of a source of electrons, the cathode, which is usually a heated filament, and a thermally rugged anode, usually of tungsten, which is enclosed in an evacuated glass envelope. The voltage applied to accelerate the electrons is in the range of 30 to 100 kilovolts. The X-ray tube functions on the principle that X rays are produced wherever electrons moving at very high speeds strike matter of any kind. Only about 1 percent of the electron energy is converted to X rays. Because X rays can penetrate solid substances to varying degrees, they are applied in medicine and dentistry, in the exploration of the structure of crystalline materials, and in research. The X-ray tube design that became the prototype for subsequent devices was invented by the American engineer William D. Coolidge in 1913.