X-ray Microscopic Examination of a Toy Nutcracker

Figure 1: Toy brick nutcracker model imaged in this study

What could be more appropriate for the holidays than a nutcracker made from LEGO® bricks? The basic interlocking plastic bricks are made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), incorporated along with an array of gears and various other parts to make the nutcracker structure. ABS, like other common polymers, is used in a wide variety of applications, including consumer electronics, plumbing fixtures, protective helmets, and 3D printing materials.  Micro-CT is valuable in manufacturing environments to analyze the structure and properties of plastic parts and assemblies.

X-Ray Microscopic Imaging of a Toy Nutcracker

Using our SkyScan 1273 micro-CT with an isotropic voxel size of 100 µm, we imaged a nutcracker assembled from toy bricks. With the ability to safely image samples up to ten inches in length and width, the SkyScan 1273 is a versatile laboratory instrument. For this project, since we were primarily concerned with gross morphological features of the sample, resolution was less important, so the project is a great match for the continuous imaging mode. Using the continuous imaging mode allows us to image the entire sample in about 20 minutes while maintaining high image quality.

Figure 2: Planar 2D slices through the center of the brick nutcracker

As shown in Figure 2, DataViewer provides linked planar views through any dataset. This interactive program is useful not only for cropping and orienting a dataset prior to additional visualization but is also a great way to produce static images with scale bars highlighting specific regions in the sample. In this case, we isolated the view through the long rod, which connects to the lower jaw of the nutcracker and is comprised of both high density and medium density plastics based on the image intensity in the reconstructed dataset.

Figure 3: Clipped CTVox rendered volumetric view through the nutcracker dataset

Using CTVox, we quickly rendered a live volumetric view through our dataset in 3D space as shown in Figure 3. In this view, we see the connection points between all the individual bricks used in the assembly. We also observe differences in the plastic density for some of the bricks from one another. While most of the bricks are similar in density, the bricks used for the hat are lower in density than most of the bricks used for the body. The rod supports used for the arms and lower jaw are the highest density, as shown by their relative brightness in the reconstructed images.

Figure 4: Maverick Indie rendered models of the dense rod pieces (red) and medium density bricks (green)

Taking the density observations from CTVox, we moved the sample into Synopsys’ Simpleware ScanIP software with the CAD add-on module (Synopsys, Inc., Mountain View, USA) to create detailed volumetric models of the standard density bricks and the higher density rod supports before 3D rendering using Maverick Render Indie (Random Control, Madrid, Spain) as shown in Figure 4.

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Scan Specifications

Sample Toy Nutcracker
Voltage (kV) 80
Current (µA) 300
Filter 0.5 mm Aluminum
Voxel Size (nm)                     100
Rotation Step Continuous
Exposure Time (ms) 294
Rotation Extent (deg.) 360
Scan Time (HH:MM:SS) 00:21:09

These scans were completed on our SkyScan 1273 micro-CT system at the Micro Photonics Imaging Laboratory in Allentown, PA. Reconstructions were completed using NRecon 2.0 while visualization and volumetric inspection of the 2D and 3D results were completed using DataViewer and CTVox. The nutcracker components were converted to STL volumetric models using Synopsys’ Simpleware ScanIP software with the CAD add-on module (Synopsys, Inc., Mountain View, USA) before 3D rendering using Maverick Render Indie (Random Control, Madrid, Spain).

Would you like your work to be featured in our monthly newsletter? If so, please contact us by calling Seth Hogg at 610-366-7103 or emailing seth.hogg@microphotonics.com.

 

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