From High-resolution Imaging to High-precision Metrology
SSS2.2
Video Description: Presented by Herminso Villarraga-Gómez. Today, X-ray microscopes (XRM) have the unique ability to achieve higher resolution, non-destructive imaging within larger parts than traditional X-ray micro computed tomography (μCT) systems. This unique capability—valued by researchers around the world—enables them to make new discoveries with XRM. This same unique capability is, more and more, of interest to industrial quality control entities as they grapple with small features in high precision manufactured parts for various industries such as automotive, electronics, aerospace, and medical devices, to name a few examples. However, many of today’s technology and manufacturing companies require traceable metrology, even at these high resolutions. This paper describes the development of a package—a solution consisting of hardware and software—for performing high-precision metrology using the high-resolution capabilities of ZEISS Xradia Versa 3D X-ray microscopes, which can attain spatial resolutions better than 1 μm (e.g., ~0.5 μm with the Versa 620 model). This new package, Metrology Extension (MTX) for Xradia Versa, includes a workflow designed to adjust and calibrate the XRM system to perform metrology tasks. Once the MTX calibration workflow is executed, the system can be used to measure small volumes, in in the order of (5 mm)3 or less, with high dimensional accuracy. The MTX workflow (for dimensional metrology) has been tested in several XRM systems for metrological performance evaluation. The main results show that such systems can produce repeatable and reproducible measurements, with repeatability standard deviations in the order of 0.1 μm, reproducibility standard deviations of about 0.35 μm, and measurement accuracies comparable to those offered by tactile CMM (with deviations within the range of ±0.95 µm). Overall, the MTX is an advancement that converts a high-resolution instrument, the Xradia Versa, into a highly accurate instrument for dimensional measurements, enabling to extend further the imaging capabilities of XRM into the field of high-precision metrology.