Systems and methods for inspecting honeycomb ceramic structures using X-ray CT imaging

A method for inspecting a honeycomb structure comprising an array of intersecting walls, the walls extending transversely across the honeycomb structure in a plurality of web planes, the method comprising:

• generating a three-dimensional volume file of the honeycomb structure from x-ray images;
• reducing the three-dimensional volume file to two-dimensional data sets, the reducing comprising slicing the three-dimensional volume file into a sequence of cross-sectional slices, each cross-sectional slice having a thickness measured along an axial length of the honeycomb structure, and generating each of the two-dimensional data sets as axially-projected intensity data of a corresponding one of the cross-sectional slices of the three-dimensional volume file;
• tracking one or more web planes through the three-dimensional volume file by identifying a portion of the one or more web planes in a plurality of the two-dimensional data sets;
• generating a geometric contour of the one or more web planes from data corresponding to the one or more web planes in the two-dimensional data sets, the geometric contour comprising a series of line segments that travel along the walls for each web plane of the one or more web planes;
• creating a planar representation of the one or more web planes by extracting data from the three-dimensional volume file in accordance with the geometric contour;
• determining at least one structural condition of the honeycomb structure based on the planar representation;
• and
• wherein the generating the geometric contour comprises:
• beginning a first line segment of the series of line segments at a thickness-wise center of a selected wall;
• detecting a deviation in the thickness-wise center of the selected wall at a location along the selected wall spaced from the beginning of the first line segment;
• terminating the first line segment at the location of the deviation;
• and
• beginning a second line segment of the series of line segments at an end of the first line segment.