3D IMAGE ANALYSIS OF OPEN FOAMS USING RANDOM TESSELLATIONS

Volume image analysis provides a number of methods for the characterization of the microstructure of open foams. Mean values of characteristics of the edge system are measured directly from the volume image. Further characteristics like the intensity and mean size of the cells are obtained using model assumptions where the edge system of the foam is interpreted as a realization of a random closed set. Macroscopically homogeneous random tessellations provide a suitable model for foam structures. However, their cells often lack the degree of regularity observed in real data. In this respect some deterministic models seem to be closer to realistic structures, although they do not capture the microscopic heterogeneity of real foams. In this paper, the influence of the model choice on the obtained mean values is studied. Moreover, a method for reconstruction of the cells of an open foam from its edge system is described and tested for the tessellations under consideration