Analysis of Closed Foams

Sandwich materials are well suited for high-performance light construction applications. They are applied in aerospace, vehicle, sports equipment, and wind energy industries. Rigid polymer foams are used as core material. Reliable information on the foam structure is essential for dimensioning of sandwich light construction parts.

Analysis of micro-computed tomography image data allows to characterize the geometry of foam samples. After reconstructing the important structures, volume fraction, cell size distribution, form factors, and topological characteristics can be estimated.

In order to study the influence of the foam meso-structure on the material properties of the foam, a stochastic geometry model will be fitted to the observed sample. Subsequently, material properties can be simulated numerically in representative volume elements.