Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) have become an indispensable part of modern life. The intensive testing of rechargeable batteries is not only important for ensuring their quality and function but even more for safety aspects.

In a CT system, X-ray photons emitted from an X-ray tube will travel through the object and hit a detector. The detector senses the dose at each pixel of the detector area. This creates digital images while the object is rotated. The reconstruction software calculates virtual slices based on the dose at each location from different angles. The result is called a tomogram. Each pixel in the tomogram represents a density of material, a voxel.

There is a range of terminology for CT system accuracy and uncertainty that should be understood when evaluating 3D scanning systems, this blog post illustrates some of those terms, such as Precision and Accuracy, Tolerance, Uncertainty of Measurement, Resolution, Error, and Suitability.

Electromobility confronts the automotive industry with many new challenges. New components sometimes require new test methods to ensure functionality and safety. Research and development are running at full blast and partnerships find solutions that clearly push the current boundaries of what is possible. In a joint project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials and Yxlon International have succeeded for the first time in taking a look into the inside of cast rotors.

Digital radiography is a form of two-dimensional x-ray imaging in which traditional light-sensitive and radiation-sensitive x-ray film and analog hardware have been replaced with a digital image capture device, usually consisting of a flat-panel detector, and computer-based equipment.

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. Advances in technology put more pressure on the inspection process.

You might be surprised to know cast metal products can be found in 90 percent of manufactured goods and equipment throughout the world. From critical components for aircraft and automobiles to home appliances and surgical equipment, cast metal products play an important role in today’s economy especially in the United States. The U.S. is the world’s largest supplier, shipping $18 billion worth of products annually (according to the Office of Industrial Technologies report, Metal Casting – Industry of the Future).

Thanks to most recent developments, computed tomography (CT) is now an affordable and efficient
technology for non-destructive testing of workpieces made of a vast variety of materials. While digital radiography provides two-dimensional fluoroscopic images, computed tomography typically rotates the object between the X-ray tube and the flat-panel detector 360° and captures several hundred to well over a thousand X-ray images from various angles.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the most revolutionary processes to come along in many years, making a dramatic impact on the industrial market. Also known as 3D printing, AM is a manufacturing technique that builds objects layer by layer using materials such as polymers, metals, and composites. This fast-evolving technology is changing the way engineers think about product design by offering enormous flexibility in what is geometrically possible. However, the more complex the design, the more challenging (and necessary) it can be to inspect in the quality control process.

Starting out mainly as a prototyping technology Additive Manufacturing (AM) gained tremendous momentum for  use in industrial applications over the last 5 years. For highly demanding functional parts, laser beam powder bed fusion (LB-PBF) became the most dominant AM technology.