Session Description:
A Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) is a mature and proven platform that offers precise and accurate results; however, restrictions such as tactile access and long inspection times can limit their range of application. Imagine you are a manufacturer of a surgical suture stapler and want to check for the quality of the assembled part to ensure there are no bent or missing staples that would affect the device function. A CMM cannot perform this inspection, as it does not have the ability to access the staples after assembly. However, an x-ray CT machine is perfectly suited for this type of inspection, as it provides the ability to image the entire sample—both inside and out. X-ray CT has matured over the past few years and offers a powerful platform to perform metrology and defect detection together with inspection times of a few seconds per part. The metrology results are very repeatable, with standard deviations in the single digit micrometer range, and the accuracy may be gauged to very tight tolerances. ZEISS has developed solutions for customers where a single VoluMax machine may inspect >70,000 parts per day with over 100 measurements per part. The focus of this tutorial is to discover how this inspection is possible using X-ray CT.
Highlights
- Introduction to X-rays and How They Can Be Used for Imaging
- Introduction to X-ray Computed Tomography
- Solutions for Fast 100% Part Inspection:
- Multi-part fixturing
- Data artifacts
- Automated Inspection Pipeline
- Metrology
- Defect Detection
- Challenges Using X-rays for Metrology and Defect Detection
Dr. Jason Tenboer received his PhD in Physics in 2015 from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. His research focused on time-resolved serial femtosecond protein crystallography using free electron x-ray lasers, such as the coherent x-ray imaging instrument at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California. Dr. Tenboer joined ZEISS in May 2016 as a Senior Software application engineer, where his primary duties include developing solutions for fast 100% part inspection using the VoluMax inline x-ray CT technology. Other topics of interest include improvement of 3D reconstruction algorithms, advanced multi-part fixturing and robust inspection routines.