Enhancement of Scanco micro-CT images of granodiorite rocks using a 3D
convolutional neural network super-resolution algorithm
Abstract
X-Ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is a standard method to
perform three-dimensional analysis of the internal structure of a rock
sample. 3D X-Ray microscopes, such as those from the XRadia Versa
family, provide images of high resolution and contrast. Medical scanning
machines can also be used for scanning rock samples to reduce
operational cost and time, but they generally provide poorer spatial
resolution and contrast compared to 3D X-Ray microscopes. Recent success
in implementing deep learning algorithms to enhance image quality
demonstrated that, in some cases, the application of convolutional
neural network (CNN) models might significantly enhance the resolution
of the micro-CT images. In this research, a super-resolution technique
employing the U-Net 3D CNN architecture is applied to enhance the
resolution of granodiorite rock sample images obtained by two different
3D scanning machines. The high-resolution dataset was obtained using the
XRadia Versa XRM-500 microscope. It contained images with nominal
resolutions of 10.3 and 5 microns. The low-resolution scanning was
performed using a Scanco medical µCT 50 machine, and the images from
this dataset had a nominal resolution of 10.3 microns. Several models
were created to enhance the quality of the low-resolution images, and
the results were analysed. It was observed that super-resolution
processing could significantly improve the low-resolution micro-CT image
quality and suppress noise that appeared on medical images. The results
presented in this study are of particular interest and value to
geoscientists that use medical scanners to study the structure of rock
samples at large scale.