Zeiss Opens CT Center

By Sara Ferris

In early December 2007, Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology (Maple Grove, Minnesota) opened its North American CT (computed tomography) technology center in Brighton,MI. The facility is designed to offer companies the benefits of CT scanning without the need for capital investment. CT is a nondestructive testing tool that not only detects but quantifies certain defects. Its ability to measure internal features nondestructively makes it a good complement to CMMs and noncontact optical scanners that can’t capture date from internal cavities, undercuts, or deep recesses.

The center houses the new ZEISS METROTOM, a 225kV metrotomography system for industrial applications such as research and development, quality assurance, and design verification. The $1.5-million METROTOM was designed using existing CMM subsystems such as guideways, controllers, drives, and rotary tables so that its measurements are as accurate as possible.

Zeiss has coined the term metrotomography to refer to the combination of CT and traditional metrology. Metrotomography can be used for assembly checks, damage analyses, material inspections, and porosity and defect analyses. Parts up to 300mm x 300mm tall can be inspected, depending on the material. The center also offers a Varian BIR 450kV CT system for scanning larger parts, to 550mm x 1000mm.

A METROTOM computer tomograph can also be used to generate a complete CAD dataset representing the scanned object.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.