Scanning Composite Parts (Plastic + Metal) - Metrotom 1 - Zeiss Inspect 2026 - Parameters Help

[[MP...]]

Hello,

I'm scanning a composite part with both plastic and metallic components on a Metrotom 1. My goal is to inspect the plastic part or metal and plastic at the same time, but I'm struggling to get the plastic part.

What are the recommended parameters (kV, power, exposure time, and filter) for scanning composite parts with low-density materials (plastic) with metal components?

Should I use Beam Hardening Correction?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[[DW...]]

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Industrial CT Scan Artifacts in Multi-Material Components

Overview

Industrial computed tomography (CT) inspections performed on complex components often include materials with significantly different densities, atomic numbers, and X-ray attenuation characteristics. When materials such as aluminum, steel, titanium, tungsten, plastics, elastomers, or composites are present in the same scan volume, artifact formation can occur even when the scanner is operating correctly.

Why Artifacts Occur

CT reconstruction assumes that X-ray attenuation measurements remain consistent throughout the rotational scan. High-density materials absorb substantially more X-ray energy than low-density materials, producing non-linear attenuation effects that violate ideal reconstruction assumptions.

Beam Hardening

Lower energy photons are preferentially absorbed as the X-ray beam passes through dense material. The remaining beam becomes more energetic, resulting in beam hardening. Common symptoms include dark bands, cupping artifacts, false dimensional edges, and density gradients around dense features.

Photon Starvation

In regions where thick or high-density material blocks much of the X-ray flux, too few photons reach the detector. Reconstruction algorithms amplify the resulting noise, creating streaks and star-shaped artifacts between dense features.

Scatter Effects

Scattered radiation reaching the detector introduces incorrect intensity measurements, reducing contrast and creating haze, streaking, and edge distortions.

Metal and High Contrast Artifacts

Sharp transitions between materials of vastly different attenuation levels can generate reconstruction errors, partial-volume effects, and edge overshoot artifacts that appear as bright or dark streaks.

Physical Filters 

Physical pre-filters made from materials such as copper, tin, or aluminum are commonly placed in the beam path. These filters remove low-energy photons before they enter the part, reducing beam hardening and improving consistency when scanning dissimilar materials.

Digital Correction Methods

Zeiss Inspect X-Ray Professional provides correction tools including beam hardening compensation, ring artifact reduction, detector normalization, noise filtering, and optimized reconstruction settings. These algorithms reduce systematic errors before and during volume reconstruction.

Best Practices

Use the highest practical tube voltage, select appropriate physical filtration, optimize exposure time, increase projection count, minimize detector saturation, and orient dense materials to reduce extreme attenuation paths. Reconstruction parameters should be validated using representative production components.

Summary

Artifacts are a natural consequence of X-ray physics when dissimilar-density materials are scanned together. Understanding beam hardening, photon starvation, scattering, partial-volume effects, and detector limitations allows inspection laboratories to minimize artifacts and obtain cleaner, more reliable CT data.

Edited 5 hours ago