Imaging and Image Analysis Applications for Plastics

The field of imaging has provided the polymer scientists and the plastics industry with the necessary tools to evaluate parameters that were until recently difficult to quantify. These parameters include texture, surface roughness, surface uniformity, fiber orientation distribution, fiber diameter distribution, rate of cracking, polymer blend morphology, dispersion of insoluble additives, corrosion, material weathering, and many other determinants. Most such observations were not possible until recently. The advent of high-speed image acquisition coupled with dedicated software and digital signal processors in changing this state of affairs. This book contains a collection of papers that illustrate novel imaging techniques and image analysis methods currently in use to quantify the process or the material. The broad collection of applications of imaging and image analysis techniques gathered in this book help illustrate material/process/property relationships for a wide selection of materials and processes. Contents include: Visible Optical Methods Scanning Electron Microscopy X-Ray Thermal Wave Infrared Atomic Force Microscopy Extrusion Injection Molding Foam Production Film Manufacture Compression Molding Blow Molding Vulcanization Melt Spinning Reactive Blending Welding Conveying Composite Manufacture Compounding Thermosetting.