Influence of different mounting strategies on the random measurement error in industrial computed tomography

Abstract

In order to perform measurements in industrial computed tomography (CT), the specimen in question has to be mounted on the kinematic system of the CT device. In principle this applies to all measuring machines, however, it is an especially critical step of a CT measurement as there are no companies providing mounting systems in particular for CT applications that have been tried and tested by many years of usage. As a mounting system for CT applications should not interfere with x-ray beams to ensure an uncorrupted measurement, many users rely on special mountings cut from foam, 3D printed mounts or custom- made parts. However, there has not been a systematic survey on which mounting strategy leads to minimal random error in measurement results. Therefore, this paper aims at determining the influence of different mounting strategies on the random measurement error and image quality of the resulting scans. To this end, measurements of a defined test-object using different mountings are performed and compared with respect to these quality parameters. Finally, a recommendation for the optimal choice of a mounting system based on the results is given.