A procedure for measuring the geometry of X-ray computed tomography (CT) instruments is applied to an experimental CT instrument. In this study, the geometrical measurement procedure is implemented with the CT 2 reference object, comprising steel spheres with known center positions in a local coordinate frame affixed to a cylindrical carbon fiber framework. The procedure can be implemented with other sphere-based reference objects, provided the sphere center coordinates are known. The effects of number of acquired projections and rotation mode (stepped or continuous) on the quality of measured geometrical parameters are studied. Finally, the output of the geometrical measurement procedure is used to inform the physical adjustment of the experimental CT instrument to its ideal alignment. The effectiveness of the measurement procedure to correctly determine the instrument geometry is demonstrated from dimensional measurements performed on a tomographically reconstructed validation object from radiographs acquired under initial (misaligned) and adjusted (aligned) instrument geometry.

In this work, an in-house designed table top loading device equipped with a bioreactor is used for the in-situ compression of a spongious sample in simulated physiological conditions. On-the-fly 4D computed tomography is used as a tool for the advanced volumetric analysis of the deforming microstructure of the specimen. The loading device with the bioreactor was placed directly onto the rotational stage of a modular X-ray scanner. As the loading device is equipped with a slip-ring cable system, it can perform an unlimited number of revolutions during the on-the-fly scanning procedure. A complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor flat panel detector with a fast readout was used for the acquisition of the X-ray images. The specimen was compressed with a low loading velocity. A set of the volumetric data capturing the deformation of the specimen during the experiment was prepared from the images acquired by the detector. A digital volume correlation algorithm was used for the evaluation of the volumetric strain fields in the specimen. K: Computerized Tomography (CT) and Computed Radiography (CR); Detection of defects; Inspection with x-rays 1Corresponding author.

Advanced pore morphology (APM) foam elements are almost spherical foam elements with a solid outer shell and a porous internal structure mainly used in applications with compressive loading. To determine how the deformation of the internal structure and its changes during compression are related to its mechanical response, in-situ time-resolved X-ray computed microtomography experiments were performed, where the APM foam elements were 3D scanned during a loading procedure. Simultaneously applying mechanical loading and radiographical imaging enabled new insights into the deformation behaviour of the APM foam samples when the mechanical response was correlated with the internal deformation of the samples. It was found that the highest stiffness of the APM elements is reached before the appearance of the first shear band. After this point, the stiffness of the APM element reduces up to the point of the first self-contact between the internal pore walls, increasing the sample stiffness towards the densification region.

In recent years, researchers working in biomedical science and technology have investigated alternatives for enhancing the mechanical properties of biomedical materials. In this work, sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel-reinforced nanoparticles (NPs) of hydroxyapatite (HA) were prepared to enhance the mechanical properties of this polymer. Compression tests showed an increase of 354.54% in ultimate compressive strength (UCS), and 154.36% in Young’s modulus with the addition of these NPs compared with pure SA. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the amount of residual water is not negligible and covered a range from 20 to 35 wt%, and the decomposition degree of the alginate depends on the hydroxyapatite content, possibly due to the displacement of sodium ions by the hydroxyapatite and not by calcium chloride. Further, there is an important effect possibly due to the existence of an interaction of hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl of the alginate and the oxygen atoms of the hydroxyapatite, so signals appear upfield in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data. An increase in the accumulation of HA particles was observed with the use of X-ray microtomography, in which the quantified volume of particles per reconstructed volume corresponded accordingly to the increase in the mechanical properties of the hydrogel.

Several methods, including X-ray radiography, have been developed for the investigation of the characteristics of water-saturated quasi-brittle materials. Here, the water content is one of the most important factors influencing their strength and fracture properties, in particular, as regards to porous building materials. However, the research concentrated on the three-dimensional fracture propagation characteristics is still significantly limited due to the problems encountered with the instrumentation requirements and the size effect. In this paper, we study the influence of the water content in a natural quasi-brittle material on its mechanical characteristics and fracture development during in-situ four-point bending by employing high-resolution X-ray differential micro-tomography. The cylindrical samples with a chevron notch were loaded using an in-house designed four-point bending loading device with the vertical orientation of the sample. The in-house designed modular micro-CT scanner was used for the visualisation of the specimen’s behaviour during the loading experiments. Several tomographic scans were performed throughout the force-displacement diagrams of the samples. The reconstructed 3D images were processed using an in-house developed differential tomography and digital volume correlation algorithms. The apparent reduction in the ultimate strength was observed due to the moisture content. The crack growth process in the water-saturated specimens was identified to be different in comparison with the dry specimens.