Application of High-contrast X-Ray Computerized Tomography to Carbon Fiber/Polymer Composites

Abstract

Three-dimensional real-space images of the carbon fiber (CF)/polymer composites were obtained by a high-contrast X-ray computerized tomography (CT). Since both CF and polymers do not include heavy atoms, CF has not been supposed to be suitable to X-ray CT observation. In this study, we used the X-ray CT apparatus which is designed to enhance the contrast of the materials consisting only of lightweight atoms. Besides the usage of the appropriate apparatus, the experimental conditions were found to be important : cutting the sample into a thin rod, and obtaining sufficient number of projections. In our case, we used 1mm × 1mm × 4mm sample, and 720 projections with 0.25 degree intervals in order to obtain the 3μm voxel resolution in the reconstructed three-dimensional images. Eventually, each CF in polystyrene was clearly visualized in three dimensions.

Creep Behavior of a Polymer Blend Melt and 3D Observation of the Deformed Bicontinuous Structure by a High-contrast X-ray CT

“…[16][17][18][19][20] By optimization of X-ray energy based on the X-ray absorption coefficient of the constituent elements and on the polymer contrast survey 16,17) , nondestructive 3D observations become possible without staining for blends of many combinations of polymers 17,18) including ternary blends 18) and for polymer composites including polymer/carbon fiber composite.…”