Additive manufacturing (AM) has been forging ahead rapidly in both technological capabilities and industry adoption in recent years. 

It all starts with the question, "How can we clearly see what is going on inside our product without damaging it?"

The imaging/inspection method has greatly evolved since its inception and it is now used in many industries for diverse types of product. 

I often hear, “How accurate can this be measured using CT?” For CT accuracy and precision should be considered together. For accuracy versus precision, picture a target.

Almost every industry has seen explosive growth in additive manufacturing (AM or 3D printing) of metal components, either for prototyping or low to medium volume manufacture of often high value and safety critical parts.

Every business or service today has some form of quality control or quality assurance. With such high market competition, quality has become the market differentiator for almost all products and services.

Standards and regulations rule the aerospace industry. Inspections and reviews are crucial to passenger and flight safety, but compliance with these standards can become time consuming and expensive. 

Two-dimensional and 3D X-ray technologies are among the most useful nondestructive testing methods. They enable the inspection of an object’s internal features without having to disassemble the sample or destroy the part in the process. 

Industrial inspection equipment doesn’t appear in mainstream news on a regular basis. But that’s what happened when Samsung found itself in the unenviable position of determining why its Note 7 smart phones had turned pyrotechnic.

Applications for industrial X-Ray CT—a 3D measurement technique that enables nondestructive inspection of an object’s internal and external features—are growing beyond the confines of the nondestructive testing (NDT) space that CT has occupied since the mid-1990s.