Microfocus X-ray Computer Tomography in Materials Research

摘要

Computer tomography, initially implemented in the medical field, today is also used in materials research. Moreover the technology has been improved by implementing the microfocus X-ray sources in the computer tomography facilities. In microfocus computer tomography (μCT) the resolution of a system can be in the order of 10μm×10μm×10 μm depending on the object size, which is much better compared to the typical 60 μm × 60μm×1 mm resolution of the medical CT. The resolution of the two microfocus computer tomography systems available at the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (K.U. Leuven), being the desktop SkyScan 1072 computerised microtomograph (for small objects up to 4 cm~3) and the AEA Tomohawk CT system on the Philips HOMX 161 microfocus system (for large objects up to 5 kg), is indicated in Table 1.