Prof Anton du Plessis

X-ray competition

We are having an X-ray image competition, and the winner gets a full 3D scan and 3D print of an object of his choice (plus free publicity). Additional sponsored prizes are planned but not yet confirmed. The two categories are as follows: Weirdest object X-ray’ed Most striking X-ray image How it works: you contact our …

Ghent nose CT scan

A Ghent nose is a sweet originating from Ghent, Belgium. Since we visited Ghent last month, we decided to scan and analyze a Ghent nose as an example. This example shows how 3D X-ray imaging can be used to visualize internal features of food products, in this case showing clearly some large air bubbles / …

Plums featured in university showcase report

Agricultural research using our microCT facility for nondestructively visualizing the insides of fruits in 3D has featured in the recently published university showcase report “Research at Stellenbosch”, click here to see the article and images: http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/stellenbosch-University/research-2014/2015070704/#54

Metrology of a 3D printed logo

A 3D printed Stellenbosch University logo was designed and manufactured at the Stellenbosch Idea2Product lab, a division of the CT Scanner Facility which is located at the university’s Launchlab: http://blogs.sun.ac.za/idea2product This logo which is roughly 30 x 30 x 14 mm is intended to be used for marketing purposes, but also provides a nice …

Medical implant: metrology day example

Custom medical implants can be made to suit an individual patient using additive manufacturing (3D printing) technology. Below is the design file of the custom titanium implant including support structures. The part was designed and built at the Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM) at the Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein, South …

Maize kernel analysis

Maize is a staple food in South Africa and in Africa. One of the factors affecting the milling quality and efficiency of production is the maize hardness – in this study MicroCT was used to investigate hardness in maize kernels using full 3D information as well as a density calibration. Read the full paper here: …

Concrete porosity analysis

Porosity analysis of concrete in full 3D is possible, as explained in this publication: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1617/s11527-014-0519-9 A porosity analysis provides a spreadsheet of data of each pore, including its volume, surface area, sphericity, diameter, etc. By sorting the voids according to any of these parameters, you can inspect each pore individually in each slice plane or …

Non-destructive testing Case Study

This post shows the type of analysis possible for commercial non-destructive testing customers, specifically to demonstrate what is possible and at what cost. Costs are excluding 7% admin fee and excluding VAT at 14%. It is laid out in a step by step process, where a typical customer will make use of steps 1-3 while …

Spectroscopy symposium photos

A successful Young Spectroscopy Symposium was held at the Facility recently. The two prize winners were Letitia Schoeman and John Woodland. John Woodland won the regional and also the national competition. Well done WP! The symposium offered the opportunity for some networking and viewing of the CAF spectroscopy lab including Raman, UV/Vis/NIR and fluorescence spectroscopy. …

IMGRAD2015: Imaging with Radiation conference

Full conference details can be found on the conference site at this link: http://academic.sun.ac.za/saf/training_IMGRAD.html Final Program now available! Click here: IMGRAD2015 PROGRAM

Anton du Plessis

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