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Computed Tomography

What is Computed Tomography?

The word tomography is derived from Ancient Greek tomos, "slice" and graphō, "description". Because of that, the word tomography means description of slices by imaging. Computed tomography (CT) is a computer-aided tomographic process uses irradiation (such as gama, x-ray, neutron and others) as well as non-irradiation (such as magnetic, electrical capacitance, infrared and others) to produce either two-dimensional or three-dimensional representations of the scanned object both externally and internally. It makes use of computer-processed combinations of many data or images taken from different angles to produce cross-sectional images (virtual "slices") of specific areas of a scanned object, allowing the user to see inside the object without cutting.

 

How does a CT work?

Computed tomography (CT) is an imaging procedure that uses special irradiation equipment to create detailed pictures of internal structure. CT, refers to a computerized gamma or x-rays imaging procedure in which a narrow beam of those rays is aimed at a sample and quickly rotated around the sample, producing signals that are processed by the machine's computer to generate cross-sectional images or “slices” of the sample. The cross-sectional images generated during a CT scan can be reformatted in multiple planes, and can even generate three-dimensional images which can be viewed on a computer monitor, printed on film or transferred to electronic media.

Where CT is applied

Instead of being widely use in medical imaging to diagnose patient, computed tomography scanning has been used in many areas of industry for internal inspection of components. Industrial CT scanning has been utilized in many areas of industry for internal inspection of components. Some of the key uses for CT scanning have been flaw detection, failure analysis, metrology, assembly analysis and reverse engineering applications. CT is also used in other fields, such as non-destructive materials testing. Another example is archaeological uses such as imaging the contents of sarcophagi. In addition, it is also used in imaging and conservation of museum artifacts as well as in transport security, particularly security at airports where they are used to detect hazardous materials and specific threat items based on 3D appearance (e.g. guns, knives, and so on).