2012 Volume 53 Issue 2 Pages 308-310
Mobile Tomographic Computer Aided Radiometry (TomoCAR) is based on the mechanical position control of an X-ray tube in front of an object and the application of a Digital Detector Array (DDA) behind it. Several hundred radiometric projections in small angle steps are acquired during the controlled movement of the X-ray tube along a preselected way. The tomographic or laminographic reconstruction allows the three-dimensional (3D) representation of flaws. A specially designed radiometric detector array with small internal unsharpness and high image contrast was used for visualization and sizing of planar and volumetric defects in austenitic welds in nuclear power plants. A German pilot study was successfully performed on the basis of the European network of inspection and qualification (ENIQ) guidelines. This was the precondition for several applications of TomoCAR in nuclear power stations in Germany and Switzerland.
A versatile computed tomography (CT) system was developed on basis of the TomoCAR design for in situ inspection of large aircraft components under production conditions. A gate based planar computed tomograph was constructed and tested for inspection of the integrity of CFRP stringers, embedded in aircraft fibre composite shells. A probability of crack visibility >90% could be determined.
