Quantitative characterisation of low-density, high performance polymeric foams using high resolution X-ray computed tomography and laser confocal microscopy

• The properties of advanced polymeric foams strongly depend on their cell structure.
• High resolution X-ray CT is used for a complete 3D analysis of the foam structure.
• A home-made “C++” application allows for the study of the orientation of the cells.
• A crucial trade-off between high resolution and representative sample size is found.
• The result of the analysis strongly depends upon the achieved resolution.

Advanced polymeric foams are used in a wide range of industrial and R&D applications. Their properties strongly depend upon the cell structure. Traditionally, their microstructure has been studied using optical or electron microscopy, limiting the investigations to sample’s surface only. To overcome this shortcoming, the use of X-ray micro-tomography imaging is here adopted to allow for a complete 3D, non-destructive analysis of advanced polymeric foams. This work brings to fruition high resolution and low-contrast imaging techniques to perform quantitative analyses onto polymeric foams, where the low contrast of reconstructed structural features might hamper accurate quantitative analyses. Local structural features of individual cells are statistically evaluated, showing the key role of the achieved resolution.