Alberta
Industrial CT


Non-Destructive 3D Imaging and Analysis

What We Do


The Alberta Industrial CT Lab uses a Nikon XTH-225 ST large cabinet Computed Tomography (CT) system. It is suitable for a wide range of materials and sample sizes. The CT lab is equipped with two interchangeable sources, a standard 225 kV reflection target, able to capture resolutions between 3-121 um, and a 225 kV rotating target source achieving 10-121 um resolutions. The latter allows the beam to fall on a moving metal surface instead of a fixed surface, yielding more effective cooling, higher beam stability, and greater resolution at higher energies than the reflection target source. This is most suitable for geological materials, larger samples, or higher-density materials.

The Alberta Industrial CT can operate with either a circular or helical stage and can hold samples up to ~ 30 cm wide by 35 cm high in a single scan. Resolution of scans depends on the size of the object and the distribution of that object onto the 2000 x 2000 pixel 16-bit detector. Typical voxel size for a 10 cm wide object is about 60 microns given a small buffer around the object, while a 3 um scan requires objects to be less than 5 mm in diameter. To discover what possible resolution you could expect for your project, it is best to contact us.

CT Applications

Civil and Geotechnical Engineering

 

Do you want to investigate the internal structure of a manufactured material?

Below we see a 8 cm diameter aircrete core sample showing porosity distribution/connectivity.

Here we see the internal ratio and distribution of the clast and matrix as well as the porosity (1 cm in diameter).

Here we see the internal ratio and distribution of the clast and matrix as well as the porosity (1 cm in diameter).

 

Would you benefit from high-resolution 3D visualization of the pore distribution and relative sizes within your materials?

This examples shows some small synthetic samples (1 cm diameter) made up of clay with some samples containing fine polypropylene fibers.

 

Mineral Exploration

Are you looking to visualize the porosity within your samples?

We can image complex porosity like what is seen in the limestone core below.

 

Do you have very small questions like this 1.5 mm diameter diamond?

We can scan items down to such sizes and achieve resolutions of 3um.

 

Non-Destructive Imaging

Do you have materials that are not visible due to an external housing but you would like to investigate the internal structure?

Below you can see the results of a drill core scanned within the sealed tube which uncovered complex internal structure within the core.

Do you work with temperature sensitive materials?

Here we CT scan a temperature sensitive permafrost sample at sub zero temperatures without any thaw of the frozen materials.

Do you need to non-destuctively inspect interior parts?

Inspect internal components and features, and visualize within a 2D or 3D environment. Industrial CT is ideal for computer chips, delicate parts, or objects with various densities.

Example Scans

Thawed Python head

Modern beach sands, United Arab Emirates (Sample submitted by Drew Brown and Murray Gingras, University of Alberta)

Porosity analysis of ice wedge sample

Drilling Impacts on Permafrost cores

Arctic ground squirrel nest (frozen), Hester Creek, Klondike area Yukon