AN IMAGE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE TO ASSIST IN THE DETERMINATION OF ORIENTATION DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBON FIBER COMPOSITES

摘要

In composite manufacturing the knowledge and control of reinforcement orientation distributions is of central importance. The use of vision and image analysis techniques can greatly aid the production of composites by providing real time data regarding fiber orientation and distribution throughout a part. This acquisition of fiber orientation and position information is of special interest for domains around certain key geometric features and can serve as input into property predictions. In this paper it is demonstrated that through the use of a widely available and relatively inexpensive image analysis package as well as a simple USB digital camera it is possible to acquire accurate fiber orientation information for use in manufacturing of short fiber reinforced composites.