X Ray computed Tomography is now a well established and advanced characterization technique. It provides 3D images of materials and structures and this 3D nature of the information has in particular shed a new light on the microstructure of materials during the last 20 years. It can be operated at different length scales, with voxel resolutions ranging from hundreds of microns for large scales in laboratory devices down to tenth of nanometers at very fine scales using synchrotron light based imaging.
It is also non destructive and as such, it allows researchers to follow the evolution of the 3D microstructure of materials over time, strain, or temperature. This paper will highlight these possibilities in the field of in situ processing or testing of ceramic materials in a broad sense.
We will sweep from the most simple in situ tests (simple observation during binder setting), in situ additive manufacturing by watter jetting or robocasting, in situ electrochemical cycling of battery materials, plaster burning, and will finish the review with very complex in situ high temperature liquid infiltration of ceramics composite preforms.
The main thread of this paper will be the complexity of the requirements for the in situ devices.