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The High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility at The University of Texas at Austin (UTCT) is a national shared multi-user facility supported by the Instrumentation and Facilities Program of NSF's Earth Sciences (EAR) directorate. UTCT offers scientific researchers across the earth, biological and engineering sciences access to a completely nondestructive technique for visualizing features in the interior of opaque solid objects, and for obtaining digital information on their 3D geometries and properties.

Interested in scanning materials at our facility? See the Scanning FAQ or download the Scan Agreement Form.

Examples of High-Resolution X-ray CT

Garnet-kyanite schist, pseudocolored 3D reconstructions from CT scans.

Variation in bone density in the skull of the Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops

The skull of Rooneyia viejaensis, among the most complete and best preserved primate skulls ever discovered in North America

An asphalt sample and antiphonal: Psalterium, An[t]iphonarium Sanctorale cum Psalmis & Hymnis, printed in Mexico in 1584.

XRadia MicroXCT sample imagery

In 2008 UTCT expanded our imaging capabilities with the acquisition of an Xradia MicroXCT scanner. This scanner is capable of sub-micron resolution, thus effectively covering the smaller specimen size ranges (<1 cm) previously beyond our capabilities. Click here for sample imagery.

Selected Recent Publications

Ekenseair, A.K., Ketcham, R.A., and Peppas, N.A. (2012) Visualization of anomalous penetrant transport in glassy poly(methyl methacrylate) utilizing high-resolution X-ray computed tomography. Polymer, 53, 776-781.

Lujan, N.K., and Armbruster, J.W. (2012) Morphological and functional diversity of the mandible in suckermouth armored catfishes (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Journal of Morphology, 273, 24-39.

Zaher, H., and Scanferla, C.A. (2012) The skull of the Upper Cretaceous snake Dinilysia patagonica Smith-Woodward, 1901, and its phylogenetic position revisited. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 164, 194-238.

Waters, M.R., Stafford, T.W. Jr., McDonald, H.G., Gustafson, C., Rasmussen, M., Cappellini, E., Olsen, J.V., Szklarczyk, D., Jensen, L.J., Gilbert, M.T.P., and Willerslev, E. (2011) Pre-Clovis mastodon hunting 13,800 years ago at the Manis Site, Washington. Science, 334, 351-353.

Kelly, E.D., Carlson, W.D., and Connelly, J.N. (2011) Implications of garnet resorption for the Lu-Hf garnet geochronometer: an example from the contact aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton, Labrador. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 29, 901-916.

Gardner, J.E., and Ketcham, R.A. (2011) Bubble nucleation in rhyolite and dacite melts: temperature dependence of surface tension. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 162, 929-943.