Advanced Visualization and Exploration Techniques for Fiber Reinforced Polymers

For the development of fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) properties such as fiber content, fiber length, fiber orientation or weaving patterns play a crucial role. To non-destructively analyze these material characteristics 3D X-Ray Computed Tomography (XCT) is currently the method of choice to provide high detailed data of the internal structures. In [1] we have introduced the FiberScout system, a novel tool for interactive exploration and visual analysis of fiber characteristics in XCT data. In this work we present the newly added FiberScout functionalities to support the materials experts in their work and to provide them with new insights into the material systems. The new functionalities include the extension of the selection and classification process to voids based on their specific characteristics as well as the calculation and visualization of a void/fiber mean object. In addition, histograms show the distribution of all fiber characteristics. Furthermore, the illustration of fiber cluster points in the dataset by the previous calculation of the metadata and the possibility to inspect the slicer data with the Meta Lens was developed. The results were evaluated by applying our visualization techniques to three different material systems.