An industrial application of computer assisted tomography

Computer assisted tomography (CAT) scanning is a nondestructive testing technique used to obtain quantitatively accurate mappings of the distribution of linear attenuation coefficients inside an object. To demonstrate the potential of the technique for accurately locating defects in three dimensions, a sectioned 5 cm gate valve with a shrink cavity made visible by the sectioning was tomographically imaged using a Co-60 source. The tomographic images revealed a larger cavity below the sectioned surface. The position of this cavity was located with an in-plane and axial precision of approximately ± 1 mm. The volume of the cavity was estimated to be approximately 40 mm3