Brno, Czech Republic 3/27/18—TESCAN ORSAY, which supplies electron, ion and light microscopy systems, has purchased Belgian-based XRE. XRE develops and manufactures dynamic 3D and 4D x-ray imaging systems, including micro-CT x-ray systems, for geoscience, materials and life science applications. “X-ray tomography provides unique contextual information for many of the existing imaging modalities we serve to date, and our customers are increasingly using the approach of multi-modal imaging within their characterization workflows to enable new science,” commented TESCAN ORSAY CEO Jaroslav Klima.

Asked about the market and product development advantages that TESCAN ORSAY has as a manufacturer of both technologies, Maroš Karabinoš, director of Marketing & Sales for the company, told IBO, “TESCAN ORSAY HOLDING can offer fast global market reach for the new product line. Generous R&D spending within the group is another advantage. Synergies between SEM and micro-CT systems are becoming more obvious at the customers’ end and TESCAN ORSAY HODLING will continue to support them.”

Mr. Karabinoš told IBO that XRE’s micro-CT technologies are differentiated from other such systems through their throughput and use of dynamic tomography. “Through a combination of hardware optimizations and software developments, XRE systems are uniquely designed for fast acquisitions (capable of tomographies in < 10 sec) that facilitate new dynamic tomography experiments in the laboratory.” As he explained, “This enables new research, such as in situ studies or time dependent (‘4D’) investigations where you may monitor the structural change in a sample over time (e.g,. fluid flow, mechanical compression, temperature, etc.). These ‘dynamic’ studies have historically only been possible at large synchrotron radiation facilities, and are now increasingly possible in your own laboratory.” 

Describing differentiation, Mr. Karabinoš also emphasized the uniqueness of XRE’s CoreTOM , a multi-scale micro-CT system optimized for 3D imaging and dynamic 4D imaging of rock core samples, and the DynaTOM, calling it “the only gantry-based (stationary-sample) micro-CT system available on the market [which] is designed for maximum flexibility for dynamic tomography, continuous rotation and in situ tomography.” Other differentiators listed by him are applications focus, collaboration and support, and system modularity.