Welcome to the Amira-Avizo Software Use Case Gallery

Pulmonary diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, lower respiratory infections, and lung cancer are listed in the top ten causes of deaths globally with more than 10 million mortality per year. Apart from oral administration, the Dry Powder Inhalation (DPI) for pulmonary administration provides an important alternative route for targeted treatment of these pulmonary diseases. […] Furthermore, there is a growing demand on und... Read more

A detailed understanding of scaphoid anatomy helps anatomic fracture reduction and optimal screw position. Therefore, we analyzed the size and shape variations of the cartilage and osseous surface, the distribution of volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), and if the vBMD values differ between a peripheral and a central screw pathway?

Forty-three fresh frozen hand specimens (17 females, 26 males) were analysed with high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) ... Read more

Scientists have for the first time captured the complex dynamics of particle movement in granular materials, helping to explain why mixed nuts often see the larger Brazil nuts gather at the top. This phenomenon, known as the ‘Brazil-nut effect’, has huge implications for industries where uneven mixing can critically degrade product quality. The findings could have vital impact on industries struggling with the phenomenon, such as pharmaceuticals and mining.

For th... Read more

Rapid implementation of global scale carbon capture and storage is required to limit temperature rises to 1.5 °C this century. Depleted oilfields provide an immediate option for storage, since injection infrastructure is in place and there is an economic benefit from enhanced oil recovery. To design secure storage, we need to understand how the fluids are configured in the microscopic pore spaces of the reservoir rock. We use high-resolution X-ray imaging to study the flow of oil, water and ... Read more

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technology has attracted considerable interest in large-scale metallic components, but porosity and low deposition rate are the two dominating technical challenges in WAAM of aluminum alloy. In order to effectively solve these problems, a novel method of hot-wire arc additive manufacturing is used to fabricate aluminum alloy. Systematic studies are carried out to investigate the formation mechanism of the pores, the macro/microstructures, as well as the ... Read more

High market demands related to material quality and properties strongly influence redesigning of common safety loaded aluminum alloy castings. The quality of aluminum components and associated obtained mechanical properties are strongly dependent on the casting process and parameters, as well as on the chemical composition. Therefore, the redesigning of chemical composition of high-strength aluminum alloys becomes significant for safety critical structural components in automotive industry.Read more

Material synthesis techniques have been historically used to engineer the mechanical and biological properties of biomaterials. Despite the overall success of this approach in different fronts […] there are still major unaddressed challenges due to the limited range of material properties that can be obtained through such synthesis techniques […]. Recent advances in additive manufacturing (AM) have initiated a new paradigm, which could facilitate better control of mechanical and b... Read more

Decommissioning of the damaged Chernobyl nuclear reactor Unit 4 is a top priority for the global community. Before such operations begin, it is crucial to understand the behaviour of the hazardous materials formed during the accident. Since those materials formed under extreme and mostly unquantified conditions, modelling alone is insufficient to accurately predict their physical, chemical and, predominantly, mechanical behaviour. Meanwhile, knowledge of the mechanical characteristics of thos... Read more

Accurate detection, characterization, and prediction of defects has great potential for immediate impact in the production of fully-dense and defect free metal additive manufacturing (AM) builds. Accordingly, this paper presents Defect Structure Process Maps (DSPMs) as a means of quantifying the role of porosity as an exemplary defect structure in powder bed printed materials. Synchrotron-based micro-computed tomography (μSXCT) was used to demonstrate that metal AM defects follow predictable... Read more

Carrier-based dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations need to be accurately characterised for their particle size distributions, surface roughnesses, fines contents and flow properties. Understanding the micro-structure of the powder formulation is crucial, yet current characterisation methods give incomplete information. Commonly used techniques like laser diffraction (LD) and optical microscopy (OM) are limited due to the assumption of sphericity and can give variable results depending on par... Read more

In recent years, due to the rapid development of industrial lightweight technology, composite materials based on fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) have been widely used in the industry. However, the environmental impact of the FRPs is higher each year. To overcome this impact, co-injection molding could be one of the good solutions. But how to make the suitable control on the skin/core ratio and how to manage the glass fiber orientation features are still significant challenges. In this study, ... Read more

Tendon insertions to bone are heavily loaded transitions between soft and hard tissues. The fiber courses in the tendon have profound effects on the distribution of stress along and across the insertion. We tracked fibers of the Achilles tendon in mice in micro-computed tomographies and extracted virtual transversal sections. The fiber tracks and shapes were analyzed from a position in the free tendon to the insertion with regard to their mechanical consequences. The fiber number was found to... Read more

The non-metallic inclusions are mostly harmful to the propertiesof the steel products. The effective characterization of the size, morphology, and distribution of the inclusions in steel is a key issue to remove and control the inclusions in the Read more

The microstructure morphologies have been characterized by high resolution laboratory X-ray computed tomography in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Carbon and Silicon Carbide (C/C-SiC) ceramic composites fabricated by Gaseous Silicon Infiltration (GSI) from C/C preforms of three different architectures: 3D stitched cloth fabric; 3D orthogonal woven fabric; and needled short-cut felt. Each composites’ microstructure was influenced by the structure of the C/C preform. By incorporating tomography with ... Read more

Blast-induced traumatic brain injury has been associated with neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. To date, although damage due to oxidative stress appears to be important, the specific mechanistic causes of such disorders remain elusive. Here, to determine the mechanical variables governing the tissue damage eventually cascading into cognitive deficits, we performed a study on the mechanics of rat brain under blast conditions. To this end, experiments were carried out to analyse... Read more

An improved understanding of 3D cracking in concrete can be achieved by multiscale experiments and numerical modelling based on realistic microstructures, for the development of materials with higher strength, durability, and fracture resistance.

Three-dimensional (3D) characterisation and modelling of cracking in concrete have been always of great importance and interest in civil engineering. In this study, an in situ microscale X-ray computed tomography (XCT) test was carried out to ... Read more

An elemental sulfur electrode was imaged with X-ray micro and nano computed tomography and segmented into its constituent phases. Morphological parameters including phase fractions and pore and particle size distributions were calculated directly from labelled image data, and flux based simulations were performed to determine the effective molecular diffusivity of the pore phase and electrical conductivity of the conductive carbon and binder phase, D... Read more

Lithium sulfur (Li–S) batteries have great potential as a successor to Li-ion batteries, but their commercialization has been complicated by a multitude of issues stemming from their complex multiphase chemistry. In situ X-ray tomography investigations enable direct observations to be made about a battery, providing unprecedented insight into the microstructural evolution of the sulfur cathode and shedding light on the reaction kinetics of the sulfur phase. Here, for the first time, the mor... Read more

The electrode microstructural properties significantly influence the efficiency and durability of many electrochemical devices including solid oxide fuel cells. Despite the possibility of simulating the electrochemical phenomena within real three-dimensional microstructures, the potential of such 3D microstructural information has not yet been fully exploited. We introduce here a completely new methodology for the advanced characterization of inhomogeneous current distribution base... Read more

Catalyst aging effects were analyzed using X-ray absorption micro-computed tomography in combination with conventional characterization methods on various length scales ranging from nm to μm to gain insight into deactivation mechanisms.

For this purpose, a 4 wt% Pt/Al₂O₃ model exhaust gas catalyst was coated on a cordierite honeycomb and subjected to sequential thermal aging in static air at 950 °C for 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours. The ag... Read more

Despite the importance of studying the instability of delithiated cathode materials, it remains difficult to underpin the degradation mechanism of lithium-rich cathode materials due to the complication of combined chemical and structural evolutions. Herein, we use state-of-the-art electron microscopy tools, in conjunction with synchrotron X-ray techniques and first-principle calculations to study a 4d-element-containing compound, Li2Ru0.5Mn0.5O3. We find surprisingly, after cycling, ruthenium... Read more