DEVELOPMENT OF A REAL-TIME CT CAPABILITY FOR ROCKET MOTOR TEST AND DISPLAY

IMATRON HAS DEVELOPED AN ELECTRON-BEAM CT SCANNER CAPABLE OF IMAGING OBJECTS UP TO 48 CM IN DIAMETER AT AN ACQUISITION RATE OF 17 IMAGES PER SECOND IN EACH OF TWO ADJACENT PLANES AT A RESOLUTION OF 4 LINE PAIRS PER CM, AND AT AN ACQUISITION RATE OF 9 IMAGES PER SECOND IN A SINGLE PLANE AT A RESOLUTION OF 7 LINE PAIRS PER CM. THE SCANNING TIMES IN THESE TWO MODES ARE 50 AND 100 MS, RESPECTIVELY. THE TECHNOLOGY EMBODIED IN THIS ELECTRON-BEAM SCANNER MAY BE ADAPTED TO SCAN SOLID-PROPELLANT ROCKET MOTORS DURING TEST FIRING. IN PHASE I, IMATRON WILL ESTABLISH THE PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS REQUIRED FOR THE MEANINGFUL DYNAMIC SCANNING OF ROCKET MOTORS, PREPARE A CONCEPTURAL DESIGN FOR A SCANNER SATISFYING THESE REQUIREMENTS, AND PERFORM A DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENT USING MATERIALS OF INTEREST TO ROCKET MOTOR DEVELOPERS.