X-ray Microtomography

X-ray Microtomography

Microtomography (commonly known as Industrial CT Scanning), like tomography, uses X-rays to create cross-sections of a 3D-object that later can be used to recreate a virtual model without destroying the original model. The term micro is used to indicate that the pixel sizes of the cross-sections are in the micrometer range. These pixel sizes have also resulted in the terminology micro-computed tomography, micro-ct, micro-computer tomography, high-resolution X-ray tomography, and similar terminologies. All of these names generally represent the same class of instruments.

This also means that the machine is much smaller in design compared to the human version and is used to model smaller objects. In general, there are two types of scanner setups. In one setup, the X-ray source and detector are typically stationary during the scan while the sample/animal rotates. The second setup, much more like a clinical CT scanner, is gantry based where the animal/specimen is stationary in space while the X-ray tube and detector rotate around. These scanners are typically used for small animals (in-vivo scanners), biomedical samples, foods, microfossils, and other studies for which minute detail is desired.

The first X-ray microtomography system was conceived and built by Jim Elliott in the early 1980s. The first published X-ray microtomographic images were reconstructed slices of a small tropical snail, with pixel size about 50 micrometers.