In this modern age of technology, improved precision has become a priority in both assemblies and individual parts. Metrotomography is a valuable tool to guarantee that precision, just like a CT scan producing 3-Dimensional image of the body parts, without the need to carry out a surgery. The conventional CT is simply to detect flaws, not to measure their dimensions or external characteristics.
Even though it is acceptable in some applications, more accurate measurement is required for a few others, including various aspects of manufacturing, quality engineering, product design and prototyping R&D and product recall management in fields including aerospace, automotive, tooling, connectors, plastics, medical device and 3D printing. As a part of transition, the new approach applies the metrology techniques to tomography process, known as metrotomography.
Valuable Applications
The most important application for CT is in forensic evaluation, in which precise measurement is critical. Manufacturing of plastics is one application that can benefit from this technology. If blow molded and injection molded parts were exact images of the molds, designing would be a simple task of replicating the CAD model. The general process of test piece measurement involves multiple pieces of measurement equipment, which is tedious trial-and-error process.
While it may be effective, excess consumption of time and manpower is not accepted in today’s world. Any technology that can accelerate the process will significantly reduce costs and move products to real markets in quick time.
Value of Investment
Metrotomography provides a combined hard data that can be taken into account for mold making process. It can also be utilized for perfect verification of 3D printing processes. And the fact that it measures both external and internal features; they can replace separate metrology and CT systems. This can reduce both real estate and cost requirements. Effective systems can fully examine a plastic part in seconds and metal part in minutes, making it a perfect technology for 100% inspection.
Factors Related To Hardware
The amount of adjustment built into system is one vital aspect of hardware design that can impact the accuracy of a system. Fewer adjustments mean more accurate results. Because it is important to accurately position a part during inspection, the bearing technology of the platform has a significant effect on the results. Temperature changes can also have a bearing on the measurements, as the system component can contract or expand, reducing the repeatability of the measurement. An advanced system such as Metrotomography controls this factor.
Compensating For Inaccuracies
Recalibration is one effective method to compensate for the drift, but it requires time and manpower, while also shutting down the operations. Measurements can also become unreliable, raising doubts on how much inaccuracy you can tolerate. Scaling is another method which requires comparing a part to an item of known dimensions. It has limited utilization, since x-rays scatter as different wavelengths. Issues like these can be taken care of, by using a well-designed system that ensures accurate measurement of parts. Metrotomography is the technique that can do this for you!
