Reducing environmental scattering in industrial computed tomography by system redesign

X-ray tomographic image quality is degraded by radiation scattered in the sample and the environment. In this paper, a computed tomography (CT) system with 450 kV source is optimized for low environmental scattering. Monte Carlo simulations of different CT-configurations predict a reduction of environmental scattering by (81±4)%. An optimized setup is characterized by a large detector housing from thin composite plates, a thin mirror, and cabin walls lined with metallic plates. In radiography experiments, the contrast improves by (22±2)% for 50 mm thick aluminium objects and by (35±4)% for 160 mm thick aluminium parts. The improvement in tomographic imaging matches the radiography results.