• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2021

The evolution of X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been based on the discovery of X-rays, the inception of the Radon transform, and the development of X-ray digital data acquisition systems and computer technology. Unlike conventional X-ray imaging (general radiography), CT reconstructs cross-sectional anatomical images of the internal structures according to X-ray attenuation coefficients (approximate tissue density) for almost every region in the body. This article reviews the essential physical principles and technical aspects of the CT scanner, including several notable evolutions in CT technology that resulted in the emergence of helical, multidetector, cone beam, portable, dual-energy, and phase-contrast CT, in integrated imaging modalities, such as positron-emission-tomography-CT and single-photon-emission-computed-tomography-CT, and in clinical applications, including image acquisition parameters, CT angiography, image adjustment, versatile image visualizations, volumetric/surface rendering on a computer workstation, radiation treatment planning, and target localization in radiotherapy. The understanding of CT characteristics will provide more effective and accurate patient care in the fields of diagnostics and radiotherapy, and can lead to the improvement of image quality and the optimization of exposure doses.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.501-504
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• 2003

The purpose of this work is to introduce some fundamental stereological concepts to quantify damage parameters using X-ray CT(Computed Tomography) in the scope of CDM(Continuum Damage Mechanics). X-ray CT is a completely nondestructive technique for visualizing features in the interior of opaque solid objects, and for obtaining digital information on their 3D geometries and properties. Many researchers have introduced lots of damage parameters to model the mechanical behavior of deteriorated materials. Those damage parameters can be represented in many forms such as specific void or crack surfaces, the spacing between cracks, the specific damaged surface area, the specific damaged surface area tensor, the mean solid path among the damaged surfaces and the mean solid path tensor. Despite of many accomplishments in CDM since there is no the systematic experiment, it have limitations in application. In this situation, X-ray computed tomography is highlited by many researchers and applied in a wide range of materials including rock, bone, ceramic, metal, soft tissue and concrete.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.295-300
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• 2005

We introduce an x-ray micro tomography system capable of high resolution imaging of a local region inside a small animal. By combining two kinds of projection data, one from a full field-of-view (FOV) scan of the whole body and the other from a limited FOV scan of the region of interest, we have obtained zoomed-in images of the region of interest without any contrast a nomalies. We have integrated a micro tomography system using a micro-focus x-ray source, a $1248\times1248$ flat-panel x-ray detector, and a precision scan mechanism. Using the cross-sectional images taken with the zoom-in micro tomography system, we measured trabecular thicknesses of femur bones in postmortem rats. To compensate the limited spatial resolution in the zoom-in micro tomography images, we used the fuzzy distance transform for the calculation of the trabecular thickness. To validate the trabecular thickness measurement with the zoom-in micro tomography images, we compared the measurement results with the ones obtained from the conventional micro tomography images of the extracted bone samples.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.95-101
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• 2007

Recently, small-animal imaging technology has been rapidly developed for longitudinal screening of laboratory animals such as mice and rats. One of newly developed imaging modalities for small animals is an x-ray micro-CT (computed tomography). We have developed two types of x-ray micro-CT systems for small animal imaging. Both systems use flat-panel x-ray detectors and micro-focus x-ray sources to obtain high spatial resolution of $10{\mu}m$. In spite of the relatively large field-of-view (FOV) of flat-panel detectors, the spatial resolution in the whole-body imaging of rats should be sacrificed down to the order of $100{\mu}m$ due to the limited number of x-ray detector pixels. Though the spatial resolution of cone-beam CTs can be improved by moving an object toward an x-ray source, the FOV should be reduced and the object size is also limited. To overcome the limitation of the object size and resolution, we introduce zoom-in micro-tomography for high-resolution imaging of a local region-of-interest (ROI) inside a large object. For zoom-in imaging, we use two kinds of projection data in combination, one from a full FOV scan of the whole object and the other from a limited FOV scan of the ROI. Both of our micro-CT systems have zoom-in micro-tomography capability. One of both is a micro-CT system with a fixed gantry mounted with an x-ray source and a detector. An imaged object is laid on a rotating table between a source and a detector. The other micro-CT system has a rotating gantry with a fixed object table, which makes whole scans without rotating an object. In this paper, we report the results of in vivo small animal study using the developed micro-CTs.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.768-776
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• 2019

With the deployment of 4-th generation industrial revolution, the computer based manufacturing technologies employing advanced IT technology are much more popular than any other past years. In this research, some novel S/W technologies related to the industrial X-ray CT (computed tomography) for the inspection of the industrial parts are introduced. First, newly constructed industrial X-ray CT is presented in this paper, where some basic principles and functions of the CT are described. Then some research platforms are developed to generate more advanced functionalities of the industrial CT. Especially, the data transform from CT to general S/W such as Matlab is conducted. And based on this techniques, some supplementary S/W platform such as GUI (graphical user interface) of the CT S/W and some 3D voxel based image processing technologies can be developed in this paper. The industrial CT is one of the rare research items and it's values can be much more enhanced when it is used with advanced IT technologies.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2008

We introduce a rotating-gantry-based x-ray micro-tomography system to be used for small animal imaging studies. It has the zoom-in imaging capability for high resolution imaging of a local region inside the animal subject without any contrast anomalies arising from truncation of the projection data. With the sliding mechanism mounted on the rotating gantry holding the x-ray source and the x-ray detector, we can control the magnification ratio of the x-ray projection data. By combining the projection data from the large field of view (FOV) scan of the whole animal subject and the projection data from the small FOV scan of the region of interest, we can obtain artifact-free zoomed-in images of the region of interest. For the acquisition of x-ray projection data, we use a $1248{\times}1248$ flat-panel x-ray detector with the pixel pitch of 100 mm. It has been experimentally found that the developed system has the spatial resolution of up to 121p/mm when the highest magnification ratio of 5:1 is applied to the zoom-in imaging. We present some in vivo rat femur images to demonstrate utility of the developed system for small animal imaging.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.353-362
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• 1999

This paper presents a shape reconstruction method for automatic inspection of the solder joints on PCBs using X-ray. Shape reconstruction from X-ray radiographic image has been very important since X-ray equipment was used for improving the reliability of inspection result. For this purpose there have been lots of previous works using tomography, which reconstructs the correct shape, laminography or tomosynthesis, which are very fast algorithm. Latter two methods show outstanding performance in cross-sectional image reconstruction of lead type component, but they are also known to show some fatal limitations to some kinds of components such as BGA, because of shadow effect. Although conventional tomography does not have any shadow effect, the shape of PCB prohibits it from being applied to shape reconstruction of solder joints on PCB. This paper shows that tomography using Iterative Reconstruction Technique(IRT) can be applied to this difficult problem without any limitations. This makes conventional radiographic instrument used for shape reconstruction without shadow effect. This means that the new method makes cost down and shadow-free shape reconstruction. To verify the effectiveness of IRT, we develop three dimensional model of BGA solder ball, make projection model to obtain X-ray projection data. and perform a simulation study of shape reconstruction. To compare the performance of IRT with that of conventional laminography or tomosynthesis, reconstruction data are reorganized and error analysis between the original model are also performed.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.211-217
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• 2010

A micro-focus X-ray computed tomography (CT) was employed to determine quantitative phase analysis of skarn Zn-Pb-Cu ore by nondestructive visualization of the internal mineral distribution of a skarn ore. The micro CT images of the ore were calibrated to remove beam hardening artifacts, and compared with its scanning electron microscope (SEM) images to set the threshold of CT number range covering sulfide ore minerals. The volume ratio of sulfide and gangue minerals was calculated 20.5% and 79.5%, respectively. The quantitative 3D X-ray CT could be applied to analyse the distribution of economic minerals and their recovery.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.13-22
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• 2008

Internal voids affecting the mechanical properties of wood composite were classified into two catagories and characteristics of voids were examined according to density variation of strandboard. The void distribution and content of strandboard according to board density were measured by X-ray computed tomography system and analized using image processing software. Prior to investigation, the densities of strandboard were measured by densitometer and the results were showed high correlation with conventional oven drying method. Based on the image analysis conducted on captured images by X-ray tomography, low resolution can be used to capture the macro-voids (between strand) but not the micro-voids (within strands). Intermediate resolution can be used to capture both the macro and the micro-voids and high resolution can be successfully used to capture the majority of the micro-voids. The content of macro-void was measured and content of micro-void was computed by corresponding related equation. The macro-void distribution can be successfully understood and void content can be correctly estimated through the results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.514-522
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• 2022

Non-destructive testing (NDT) technology is a widely used inspection method for agricultural products. Compared with the conventional inspection method, there is no extensive sample preparation for NDT technology, and the sample is not damaged. In particular, NDT technology is used to inspect the internal structure of agricultural products infested by pests. The introduction and spread of pests during the import and export process can cause significant damage to the agricultural environment. Until now, pest detection in agricultural products and quarantine processes have been challenging because they used external inspection methods. However, NDT technology is advantageous in these inspection situations. In this pilot study, we investigated the feasibility of X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify pest infestation in agricultural products. Three kinds of artificially pest-infested fruits (mango, tangerine, and chestnut) were non-destructively inspected using X-ray CT and MRI. X-ray CT was able to identify all pest infestations in fruits, while MRI could not detect the pest-infested chestnut. In addition, X-ray CT was superior to the quarantine process than MRI based on the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), image acquisition time, and cost. Therefore, X-ray CT is more appropriate for the pest quarantine process of fruits than MRI.