Industrial computed tomography has been a buzz-worthy technology for several years, and NDT experts know it’s a valuable tool for inspecting the complex internal geometries of 3D-printed parts, or for finding porosity in both additively and traditionally manufactured parts.
But the range of applications extends beyond the most well-known. Additional analysis techniques deserve a look, especially when, as Jesse Garant Metrology Center Technology Manager Andrew Good predicts, CT scanners become just as common in the lab as the ubiquitous CMM. That could be a likely scenario when “any of the big three, Ford, Chrysler, GM—or Boeing, GE, whoever—says we want our parts to be inspected using CT,” he says. “And then that will trickle down to all the producers of those parts.”