Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/C509803/1
Title:	Nanotomography
Principal Investigator:	withers, Professor P
Other Investigators:	Edwards, Professor L Sinclair, Professor I Mummery, Professor P Hewitt, Mr WT Marrow, Professor J Lionheart, Professor WRB
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	Nikon
Department:	Materials
Organisation:	University of Manchester, The
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 June 2005	Ends:	31 May 2009	Value (£):	325,636
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials testing & eng.
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Manufacturing
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Tomography is the reconstruction of a 3D 'image' from a series of 2D radiographs measured as the sample is rotated. Currently the state of the art is micron scale tomography. Our aim is to develop a technique capable of nanotomography for the 3D imaging of engineering materials and components to provide the equivalent of a 3D 'scanning electron microscope' with comparable versatility. This requires a step improvement in the imaging hardware in order to collect images of sufficient resolution. However that alone is not sufficient: the current reconstruction software requires the whole sample lie within the field of view for all images. This means that the maximum sample size to spatial resolution (given in terms of the pixels or voxels) ratio is approximately equal to the number of pixels (typically 10000). As a result increasing resolution requires smaller and smaller (sub-millimetre) samples. We will develop local tomography and partial angle reconstructions to reduce this constraint. Otherwise it would not be possible to exploit the increased spatial resolution because the samples would be too small to be of engineering significance. In this project we will develop both synchrotron and lab. X-ray tomography instruments and associated software.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Project URL:	http://www.mxif.manchester.ac.uk
Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.man.ac.uk