Submitted by: Andre Phillion
While most of us are familiar with CT scanning as a medical device, this tool is also being used to revolutionize the way that engineers characterize advanced materials. The technique, X-ray Computed Tomographic Microscopy or µ-CT, enables researchers to take high-resolution 3D pictures of the internal structure of materials for manufacturing, energy, and health applications. Most recently, µ-CT has been used to image the change in internal structure during experimentation such as the freezing of a metal or fracture of a composite. This so-called 4D-insitu tomography (3D+time) will profoundly affect the way that materials are developed and tested.