Applications of CT for non-destructive testing and materials characterization

Several important technological and economic trends are shaping the research on non-destructive testing techniques. X-ray computed tomography is also a NDT product of these ongoing developments and has become a very important tool for doctors, material scientists, geologists, biologists, civil engineers, bio-engineers, dentists, quality engineers, etc., all dealing with materials of which the fine internal structure or the changes within the material are of outmost importance to understand the behaviour of the material or to have insights in the processes going on. X-ray CT with micron- and submicron resolution is now well accepted in those disciplines. In the next paragraphs a wide variety of application fields will be addressed in order to show how X-ray CT can be applied as an NDT technique for quality control, the study of the material behaviour and its functional properties under specified environmental conditions, and for production and material optimization