On the Role of Segmentation in the Analysis of Micro-CT Data of Impact Damage in the CFRP Composites

In this paper we discuss the role of different image segmentation methods that are used for the analysis of the micro computed tomography (micro-CT) data of damage in the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites due to low velocity impact. Segmentation is one of the most critical steps in the image processing of the three dimensional (3D) CT data and accurate assessment of the damage from CT data depends to a great extent on the image segmentation. We have extensively studied low velocity impact damage in the CFRP composites using 3D CT. CFRP textile composite laminates were impacted using an Instron 8200 Dynatup drop-weight impact machine. ZEISS METROTOM 1500 CT scanner was used to evaluate internal impact damage. VGStudio MAX was used for reconstruction of CT images. Different segmentation procedures were used during image processing of the CT images. Differences in the estimates of the damage zone obtained using different segmentation techniques have been assessed.