Chances are you have heard of CT scanning in a medical context, but did you know that CT scanning is increasingly being used in an industrial context as a means to inspect machinery? CT or computerised tomography involves the conversion of data from several slices of x-Rays into an image on the screen through the use of a computer. It has traditionally been used to examine humans or animals and is often also called CAT scanning or computerized axial tomography. Now this technology is available for industrial use.


Invented in 1972 by British engineer Geoffrey Hounsfeld and South-African born and American resident physicist Allan Cormack, the first such scanners were installed between 1974 and 1976 and were initially used only for head imaging before later evolving to scan the whole body. Research indicates there are now roughly 30,000 medical CT units worldwide, 6,000 of which are in the United States.


Although its industrial use is a much more recent phenomenon, it is improving quickly and offers the possibility of reconstructing complete 3D models with billions of vowels in seconds. This has allowed for the application of industrial CT scanning services in rapid prototyping, 3D reverse engineering, 3D metrology and other areas. Industrial CT scanning inspection is a growing area and offers advantages over other types of parts inspection in terms of speed and capturing accurate internal data. The size of a part is also not an obstacle. Industrial CT scanning inspection can address parts as small as half a millimetre or as large as 600mm in diameter and one meter in length.


In order to meet production part approval process requirements, numerous geometric dimensioning and tolerance points can be analyzed. The range of the accuracy of an industrial CT scanner’s metrology is five to 200 microns, depending on the on the part size and density. Use of this type of equipment can reduce new product inspection costs and failure analysis costs by between 25 and 75%.