Introduction to Computed Tomography

What is Radiography
Gamma or X-ray radiography is a simple 2D projection technique. A film or a digital radiograph simply records super-imposed attenuated radiation profiles through a given specimen. Projection technology details are superimposed along the radiation beam; details arranged one after the other partly cannot be separated anymore from each other in the X-ray image, the depth information is lost

What is Radiography
Normally it is difficult to get dimensional measurements of defect or depth information using radiography very accurately Various parameters control the quality of a radiograph:
Source energy Focal spot Exposure geometry Detector characteristics Processing conditions

What is tomography
Industrial computed tomography (CT) scanning is a process which uses Xray equipment to produce three-dimensional representations of components both externally and internally. Industrial CT scanning has been used in many areas of industry for internal inspection of components.

What is tomography
Tomography is a non-destructive technique to reconstruct an image of a cross sectional plane through an object. It is also known as Computed Tomography or Computer Aided Tomography. In case of X-rays or gamma ray based tomography the cross sectional image is basically a map of the approximate linear coefficients at each point in the plane.

What is tomography
By means of the computed tomography (CT) it is possible to generate cross sections that show the internal structures without any overlay. In order to accomplish the calculations for the cross sections, it is essential to have X-ray images from all directions. For this purpose, the object is rotated around an axis by 360 degree in total.

Tomography modalities
Transmission Tomography: Radiation source is present outside the object and transmitted data through the object is collected which is used for reconstruction of cross sectional image. Emission Tomography: Radiation source is present inside the object

Setup of Industrial CT
A Tomography System based gamma or Xrays comprises of:
A source of penetrating radiation A radiation detector or an array of detectors A computer system Software for data processing, data handling and visualisation

Setup Industrial CT Frontend

X-Ray source X-Ray detector Manipulation system Safety cabin

Backend
Measurement system Storage system Reconstruction cluster Visualization system

CT inspection of the half-axle of maneuverable aircrafts stabilizer

Fields of application
Analysis of imperfections
Characterisation of cavities, pores, inclusions of impurities, crack configurations. Integrity analysis. Assessment of material transitions and combinations.

Measurements
Wall-thickness measurement. Nominal/actual value comparison.

Reverse engineering
Reverting dimensions of real components to CAD-data.