Nuclear, automotive, oil... Non-destructive testing (NDT) is used in many industrial fields to inspect parts of different kinds (geometry and materials). If the acquired signals allow the reconstruction of 2D images in real time, the equivalent in 3D is much more complex because it requires a very large number of signals and a computing power impossible to embark in current inspection devices.
The CEA-List has taken up for the first time a scientific and technical challenge: to allow access to the reconstruction of three-dimensional parts in real time.
The researchers developed new algorithms, based on 3D reconstruction methods in the Fourier domain, in order to minimize the number of computational operations required. They were thus able to make a prototype of a 4D imager (3D in real time).
Promises kept: the imager has been successfully tested and validated on artificial defects (cracks, porosities and re-stains) made by additive manufacturing in steel blocks on the Additive Factory Hub (AFH) platform. It has even achieved unprecedented performance by visualizing porosities of 0.6 mm in diameter, locating them in the volume with an accuracy of the order of a tenth of a millimeter.
To mature and be able to envisage a technology transfer, the CEA-List researchers are now working to increase the performance and reduce the calculation times of these new imaging methods, without loss of quality.
Visit the website:
www-list.cea.fr