X-ray sources are called “open” if the X-ray generation tube can be opened for maintenance and then restarted. A significant benefit of this approach is that it enables running the source under aggressive conditions, for example, pushing the filament to its physical limits. Doing so makes it possible to provide high flux and high resolution, not available in sealed sources, where damage would occur too quickly to be economically viable.

This is not primarily a story about arcing; it is a story about how dangerous the wrong corrective action can be. It’s about the risk of acting without enough diagnostic certainty, and about why, in some cases, the safest decision is to slow down rather than intervene.

Repeated X-ray tube failures were disrupting production and triggering frequent warranty replacements. Although the immediate symptom was filament failure, the underlying cause remained unclear. This case shows how operating data turned assumptions into evidence and made the root cause visible – enabling a constructive, engineering-led solution rather than repeated replacements. As Pierre-Emmanuel Rigot, After-Sales Manager and Technical Field Engineer at X-RIS, explains, the situation had become frustrating for everyone involved: “It was very frustrating for both sides.”