Microstructural Analysis of Composite Tubes through Digital Microscopy

A semi-automatic method for the analysis of fiber-reinforced composites manufactured by filament winding is proposed. SEM images were assembled in a mosaic to reveal the microstructure of a complete cross-section of a composite pipe. An image processing and analysis procedure was developed to reduce image noise, discriminate individual fibers, and detect different layers composed of fibers with similar winding angle. Fiber size and shape was measured, allowing the determination of the average winding angle for each layer.