A unique compression test was carried out on aluminium matrix syntactic foams combined with X-ray micro CT structure analysis, in order to obtain a full reconstruction of the failure process of syntactic foams. The compression test was interrupted in small compression steps and CT imaging was performed after each interruption. As a result of the reconstruction different regions of the failure process were defined. A characteristic shear plane was found as the typical deterioration place. A CAD model was generated from the CT-base reconstruction of the specimen and a finite element algorithm was run on the CAD model. It was computed from the mechanical stress distribution that the plane, having been fitted to the weakest points of the structure, is identical to the characteristic shear plane. As our results indicate, using a finite element analysis on a CT-based reconstructed model is one way to prognosticate the deterioration of a structure.