It is widely known that a sample receives a radiation absorbed dose during a CT-scan. Although this can have unwanted effects on the sample such as discolouration, little can be found in literature about the absorbed dose in micro-CT applications (except for small animal micro-CT). This research aims to validate the accuracy of dose simulations to be able to predict the dose before scanning the sample. Both Monte Carlo simulations with BEAMnrc and simulations with the in-house developed Setup Optimizer are compared with measurements with an ionisation chamber. The simulations nearly always underestimate the experimental values with a maximal deviation of 40%. In contrast the dose reduction after a layer of material obtained with the simulation programmes is relatively accurate