Statistical Methods For Industrial X-Ray Computed Tomography Process Control

The quality control practices that are typically applied to assess the quality of manufactured products can also be applied to the inspection methods used for this purpose. This article discusses statistical methods of quality control for the X-ray computed tomography (CT) inspection process. These methods are based on the control chart concept developed by Walter A. Shewhart at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1924. Control charts are an effective and relatively simple tool to employ for process control. Different types of control charts are used depending on the situation, and this will be illustrated. Control charts are shown for example data for CT resolution, detector gain correction image mean gray values, and the distance measurement between two sphere centers. This topic has significant pertinence when considering the use of CT in a production inspection environment.