Features of visualization and interpretation of characteristics of firearms projectiles and damage to non-biological simulators of the human body during multispiral X-ray computed tomography with an extended Hounsfield scale

The application of the Hounsfield densitometric scale expansion method demonstrated its high information content and allowed to reliably establish the physical and chemical characteristics of a firearm projectile, conduct differential diagnostics of metallic and non-metallic foreign deposits in the area of firearm injuries, and reduce and completely suppress metallic artifacts in the images of the objects under study. It was found that the shift of density windows towards increasing the values of densitometric characteristics in Hounsfield units (HU) led to the formation of image artifacts simulating a bullet shell that did not actually exist. In order to avoid gross expert errors, the identified patterns should be taken into account when establishing the design details of firearms projectiles, when a shell-less (all-metal) firearm projectile can be mistakenly interpreted as a shell-type.