An experimental X-ray cone-beam microtomographic imaging system utilizing a generalized Feldkamp reconstruction algorithm has been developed in our laboratory. This microtomographic imaging system consists of a conventional dental X-ray source (Aztech 65, Boulder, CO), a sample position and rotation stage, an X-ray scintillation phosphor screen, and a high resolution slow scan cooled CCD camera (Kodak KAF 1400). A generalized Feldkamp cone-beam algorithm was used to perform tomographic reconstruction from cone-beam projection data. This algorithm was developed for various hardware configuration to perform reconstruction of spherical, rod-shaped and plate-like specimen.
A test sample consists of 8 glass beads (approx. 800μm in diameter) dispersed in an epoxy-filled #0 gelatin capsule. One hundred X-ray projection images were captured equal angularly (at 3.6 degree spacing) by the cooled CCD camera at a of 1317×967 (17×17mm2) pixels with 12-bit dynamic range. Figure 1 shows a 3D isosurface rendering of the test sample. The eight glass beads and trapped air bubbles (arrows) in the epoxy resin (e) are clearly visible.