Scanning Preparation #1: Identify Scanning Priorities

Overview

Due to the versatility of microCT, there is no "standard" scanning procedure available. But, there are two main questions that any successful microCT experiments must answer before starting to scan:

Question 1: What purpose will the data serve?

Question 2: What needs to be prioritized during scanning to achieve this purpose?

Scanning Priorities

The main three priorities of a microCT scan are as follows:

Getting Started

If needed, below are a few prompts to give basic guidance on how to identify the priorities of a microCT scan. Ideally, you should be able to rank each of the scanning outcomes into either high, mid or low/no priority. It should be stressed that all three scanning outcomes cannot be prioritized in a single scan due to their competing relationships.

1. What do you want from the scan?
   • A specific measurement (i.e. porosity, surface areas, etc.)?
   • A specific visualization (i.e. phase distributions, fiber alignment, etc.)?
2. Is the measure/observation changing with time?
   • If yes, on what timescale are significant changes occurring?
     • sec(s) - min(s)
       • Temporal resolution is a High Priority
     • 10 min - 1 hour
       • Temporal resolution is a Mid Priority
     • more than 1 hour
       • Temporal resolution is a Low Priority
3. Is the measure/observation based on a small feature (<50 μm)?
   • If yes, what is the smallest diameter of the small feature?
     • less than 5 μm
       • Spatial resolution is a High Priority
     • 5 - 20 μm
       • Spatial resolution is a Mid Priority
     • more than 20 μm
       • Spatial resolution is a Low Priority
4. Do you need to discern between phases of similar atomic composition?
   • If yes:
     • Signal-to-noise ratio is a High Priority
   • If no:
     • Signal-to-noise ratio is a Mid-Low Priority