Charting the course towards dimensional measurement traceability by X-ray computed tomography

Published

June 11, 2021

Author(s)

Massimiliano Ferrucci, Evelina Ametova

Abstract

Long synonymous with medical imaging, X-ray computed tomography (CT) is proving its worth in industrial applications such as material characterization, defect analysis, and dimensional inspection e.g., of manufactured components. Since 2005, when the first purpose-built industrial X-ray CT instrument was made commercially available, there have been significant efforts to understand just how reliable X-ray CT dimensional measurements are. In metrology, the ultimate measure of confidence is metrological traceability--a clearly-defined but often not well-understood property of a measurement result. Metrological traceability places measurements on a comparable scale and provides a quantitative indication of measurement quality in the form of an uncertainty statement. Here we provide a high-level discussion about traceability of X-ray CT dimensional measurements, review relevant work in understanding X-ray CT measurement uncertainty, and provide a framework for model-based uncertainty assessment and instrument scale calibration as a unified approach to traceability.

Citation

Measurement Science and Technology

Volume

32

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/abf058

Local Download

Keywords

X-ray computed tomography, metrological traceability, calibration, dimensional metrology

Citation

Ferrucci, M. and Ametova, E. (2021), Charting the course towards dimensional measurement traceability by X-ray computed tomography, Measurement Science and Technology, [online], https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/abf058, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=931374 (Accessed October 17, 2025)