Improved Halbach sensor for NMR scanning of drill cores

A lightweight Halbach magnet system for use in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies on drill cores was designed and built. It features an improved homogeneous magnetic field with a strength of 0.22 T and a maximum accessible sensitive volume. Additionally, it is furnished with a sliding table for automatic scans of cylindrical samples. This device is optimized for nondestructive online measurements of porosity and pore size distributions of water-saturated full cylindrical and split semicylindrical drill cores of different diameters. The porosity of core plugs with diameters from 20 to 80 mm can be measured routinely using exchangeable radiofrequency coils. Advanced NMR techniques that provide 2D T1−T2 correlations with an average measurement time of 30 min and permeability estimates can be performed with a special insert suitable for small core plugs with diameter and length of 20 mm.