Believe it or not, the use of radiographic film in X-ray imaging is becoming obsolete. More than ever, companies are turning to x-ray computed tomography — digital x-rays — to get the closer look they need. Here’s what you should know.

What Is Digital Radiography? – Digital X-rays use CR plates or a detector instead of film. In order to take an X-ray, technicians place an X-ray source on one side of a specimen and the plates or the detector on the opposite side. This digital X-ray source is the exact same one that’s used in film. There’s just one exception — an image is generated with far less radiation over a shorter exposure time.

Why Is This Better? – Digital X-rays are better because of companies’ bottom lines. Using radiographic film to develop X-rays consumes more time and money than digital radiography. While radiography film takes eight seconds to develop, digital radiography is instantaneous. It also cuts out all of the time, labor, processes, and the associated costs of these processes, making it far superior.

What Does All This Mean? – What this all means is that digital X-ray inspection services can provide a superior service at a fraction of the cost. It doesn’t matter what the industrial X-ray is needed for. Part size and time is not an issues. Parts that are as small as .5mm in lenght to parts as large as 660mm in diameter by 1m in length can all be digitally X-rayed as fast as 30 frames per second. How amazing is that?

Radiographic film is slowly going the way of the dodo, and it’s all thanks to digital radiography. If you’d like to know more about this amazing process, its different applications, and what it might mean for your company, feel free to share your questions in the comments.