Micro gears are applied in an increasing quantity in many applications. Therefore, precise measurements are of growing importance to ensure their quality. This contribution describes the measurement of gears of a micro planetary gear set with a tactile probe, a tactile-optical probe, an optical sensor, and computed tomography (CT). For the tactile measurements, a high precision piezoresistive microprobe was used. A so-called fiber probe was applied for tactile-optical measurements. This probe applies image processing to determine the position of the tactile probing element. For all tactile and tactile-optical measurements, single point probing was used. The optical measurements were carried out with an imaging sensor based on focus variation. Due to limited accessibility, on some gears not all regions could be measured by the optical sensor and the tactile-optical probe. In contrast to this, with CT the whole part could be measured with high point density. We used a micro-CT system and carried out measurements with Synchrotron-CT. All the sensors used deliver measurement data in Cartesian coordinates. It is a challenge to transfer these data into coordinates in which gear parameters are defined. For this, special attention must be paid to the determination of the gear axis and to the orientation of the teeth. The applied procedures are detailed for different micro gears. The comparison between data of different measurements was carried out successfully. The deviations between the CT data and the tactile or tactile-optical data lie in the range of only a few micrometers.
Analyzing damages at concrete structures due to physical, chemical, and mechanical exposures need the application of innovative non-destructive testing methods that are able to trace spatial changes of microstructures. Here, the utility of three different crack detection methods for the analysis of computed tomograms of various cementitious building materials is evaluated. Due to the lack of reference samples and standardized image quality evaluation procedures, the results are compared with manually segmented reference data sets. A specific question is how automatic crack detection can be used for the quantitative characterization of damage processes, such as crack length and volume. The crack detection methods have been integrated into a scientific visualization system that allows displaying the tomography images as well as presenting the results.
Biological erosion is a key process for the recycling of carbonate and the formation of calcareous sediments in the oceans. Experimental studies showed that bioerosion is subject to distinct temporal variability, but previous long-term studies were restricted to tropical waters. Here, we present results from a 14-year bioerosion experiment that was carried out along the rocky limestone coast of the island of Rhodes, Greece, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, in order to monitor the pace at which bioerosion affects carbonate substrate and the sequence of colonisation by bioeroding organisms. Internal macrobioerosion was visualised and quantified by micro-computed tomography and computer-algorithm-based segmentation procedures. Analysis of internal macrobioerosion traces revealed a dominance of bioeroding sponges producing eight types of characteristic Entobia cavity networks, which were matched to five different clionaid sponges by spicule identification in extracted tissue. The morphology of the entobians strongly varied depending on the species of the producing sponge, its ontogenetic stage, available space, and competition by other bioeroders. An early community developed during the first 5 years of exposure with initially very low macrobioerosion rates and was followed by an intermediate stage when sponges formed large and more diverse entobians and bioerosion rates in-creased. After 14 years, 30 % of the block volumes were occupied by boring sponges, yielding maximum bioerosion rates of 900 g m.
Complementary to Part 1 of this work, the bi-continuous microstructure of porous synthetic cordierite ceramics for filtration applications was investigated using 3D x-ray computed tomography at different resolutions. Applying both Fast Fourier Transform and a newly developed image analysis algorithm, we quantitatively evaluated porosity and pore orientation. The statistical approach allows extraction of spatially resolved or average values. Porosity values based on x-ray absorption agree with mercury intrusion measurements, while pore orientation factors agree with x-ray refraction data (Part 1 of this work), and with published crystallographic texture data.