Project Description
Understanding the cause of failures that occur with internal components of sealed devices can be difficult. X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) is a non-destructive imaging technique that can generate 3D images from inside objects. This approach was used to understand the extent of cracking in epoxy filled ABS housings. Imaging of ABS monitoring devices was conducted using a Versa 520 XRM (Zeiss) microCT system operating at 140kV and 10W. In all cases, cracking was limited to the ABS housing.
Careful examination of all slices along the three major orthogonal axes provided no evidence of cracking within the epoxy. Given that cracking was limited to the ABS housing and not into potentially sensitive internal components, there is no risk associated with leaving existing devices currently deployed in the field which will avert downtime and allow time to reengineer new devices without these defects.
Woodside contact: Mike Brameld, Chief Materials Engineer