Three-dimensional characterization of polymer foams using X-ray dark-field imaging

Due to the low cost, the ease of processing, and excellent material properties, polymer foams are used in various applications, e.g. packaging, building and construction, furnitures and bedding, and the automotive and aerospace sector. The mechanical response of polymer foams is primarily influenced by density and morphology. While foam density can be determined with high precision, cell morphology is more difficult to determine since the size distribution of foam cells differs in three dimensions. However, using conventional methods, e.g. optical light microscopy or scanning electron microscopy, it is very difficult to obtain three-dimensional information and to differentiate between the strut system and cell walls. An alternative for the three-dimensional characterization of foam morphology is micro-computed tomography (XCT). But even non-destructive techniques like XCT are not able to characterize anisotropic foams if the thickness of single struts and cell walls is below the physcial resolution of the respective XCT system. In this contribution we therefore investigate different polymeric foam samples using a Talbot-Lau grating interferometer XCT (TLGI-XCT) system. We show that the obtained darkfield contrast images show a high contrast and a strong signal at struts and cell walls, facilitating the segmentation of foam cells in various examples

Metodi di geometria morfometrica per la ricostruzione virtuale di crani incompleti

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Virtual reconstruction of very large skull defects featuring partly and completely missing midsagittal planes.

Despite the development of computer-based methods, cranial reconstruction of very large skull defects remains a challenge particularly if the damage affects the midsagittal region hampering the usage of mirror imaging techniques. This pilot study aims to deliver a new method that goes beyond mirror imaging, giving the possibility to reconstruct crania characterized by large missing areas, which might be useful in the fields of paleoanthropology, bioarcheology, and forensics. We test the accuracy of digital reconstructions in cases where two-thirds or more of a human cranium were missing. A three-dimensional (3D) virtual model of a human cranium was virtually damaged twice to compare two destruction-reconstruction scenarios. In the first case, a small fraction of the midsagittal region was still preserved, allowing the application of mirror imaging techniques. In the second case, the damage affected the complete midsagittal region, which demands a new approach to estimate the position of the midsagittal plane. Reconstructions were carried out using CT scans from a sample of modern humans (12 males and 13 females), to which 3D digital modeling techniques and geometric morphometric methods were applied. As expected, the second simulation showed a larger variability than the first one, which underlines the fact that the individual midsagittal plane is of course preferable in order to minimize the reconstruction error. However, in both simulations the Procrustes mean shape was an effective reference for the reconstruction of the entire cranium, producing models that showed a remarkably low error of about 3 mm, given the extent of missing data

Virtual reconstruction of modern and fossil hominoid crania : Consequences of reference sample choice

Most hominin cranial fossils are incomplete and require reconstruction prior to subsequent analyses. Missing data can be estimated by geometric morphometrics using information from complete specimens, for example, by using thin-plate splines. In this study, we estimate missing data in several virtually fragmented models of hominoid crania (Homo, Pan, Pongo) and fossil hominins (e.g., Australopithecus africanus, Homo heidelbergensis). The aim is to investigate in which way different references influence estimations of cranial shape and how this information can be employed in the reconstruction of fossils. We used a sample of 64 three-dimensional digital models of complete human, chimpanzee, and orangutan crania and a set of 758 landmarks and semilandmarks. The virtually knocked out neurocranial and facial areas that were reconstructed corresponded to those of a real case found in A.L. 444-2 (A. afarensis) cranium. Accuracy of multiple intraspecies and interspecies reconstructions was computed as the maximum square root of the mean squared difference between the original and the reconstruction (root mean square). The results show that the uncertainty in reconstructions is a function of both the geometry of the knockout area and the dissimilarity between the reference sample and the specimen(s) undergoing reconstruction. We suggest that it is possible to estimate large missing cranial areas if the shape of the reference is similar enough to the shape of the specimen reconstructed, though caution must be exercised when employing these reconstructions in subsequent analyses. We provide a potential guide for the choice of the reference by means of bending energy