Micro Computed Tomography
Micro Computed Tomography
Micro computed tomography (µCT) allows, analogous to conventional X-ray computed tomography, the non-destructive testing of materials and components with regard to local density differences. Thus, pores, cavities and cracks as well as different phases or components can be detected and analyzed. For this purpose, a virtual 3D model of the material or component is reconstructed from radiographs at different angles using a 3D reconstruction. In contrast to medical tomography, the resolution here can be in the micrometer range, depending on the sample or component size.
Micro-CT is used in medical imaging as well as in industrial computed tomography and material analysis. Here it offers the advantage of negligible sample preparation and a non-destructive measurement procedure.
The Micro-CT System Precision from YXLON GmbH allows both images of large component groups of different materials and high-resolution images of smaller material samples. A tube voltage of up to 225kV allows images of various materials such as aluminum alloys, polymers and steels with a cumulative thickness of up to 10mm.
An in-situ testing device developed at IAM-WK allows loading samples and observing damage mechanisms during scanning. Using digital image registration methods, strain fields at different loading levels can be calculated and visualized three-dimensionally.
The department "Manufacturing and Component Behaviour" uses both commercial software (VGStudio, Avizo) and self-developed open source projects (https://sourceforge.net/p/composight/wiki/Home/, https://github.com/IAM-WK) for µCT analysis in order to realize tailor-made solutions for questions in microstructure characterization. In this area we are working on the topic: