Comparison of Geometrically Derived Quality Criteria regarding Optimal Workpiece Orientation for Computed Tomography Measurements

Abstract

In the field of industrial Computed Tomography (CT), the orientation of the workpiece influences the local quality of the reconstructed volume data and therefore dimensional measurements. In the literature, different a priori criteria for an optimal orientation are proposed, which are purely based on the part and setup geometry. However, it is not evident to which extent they correlate with the measurement accuracy or how different quality parameters should be weighted, especially if a wider range of materials and therefore different artefact contributions should be covered. In this work, existing methods and criteria are compared and extended. In contrast to most existing investigations, different quality parameters are evaluated not only globally, but also restricted to relevant regions of interest (ROI). A straightforward derivation for an analytical determination of surface areas affected by cone-beam artefacts is presented. Results show that an ROI-based evaluation is important to find an optimal orientation for single measurands. The investigated quality parameter based on the prediction of surface areas which are affected by cone-beam artefacts was found to be applicable as exclusion criterion. This only holds true if the evaluation is restricted to relevant ROI surface areas, which should also be considered when evaluating the maximum X-ray penetration length as quality parameter. The correlation of the latter with resulting measurement deviations was found to depend on the measurement task.