Characterization of Porosity Development in Oxidized Graphite using Automated Image Analysis Techniques

Microstructural characterization and pore structure analysis of nuclear graphite

“…The general logarithmic nature of the pore area distribution in PCEA appears to coincide well with similar image analysis techniques used by Contescu for PCEA [16].…”

“…Image analysis has been used to determine microstructural inputs for fracture models of polygranular graphite [15] and more recently to characterize porosity development under varying oxidation conditions [16]. Additionally, digital image analysis has been applied to 3D X-ray tomography techniques to map density evolution in oxidized samples [17][18][19].…”

Pore structure development in oxidized IG-110 nuclear graphite

“…Techniques such as conventional direct density measurement method by layer peeling and physical measurements [5,10,11], ultrasonic testing method coupled with image analysis [11][12][13][14] and 3D X-ray tomography [15,16] have been utilized for determining the oxidation depth. Based on the reflectance difference for visible light between porosity and graphitic material, it has been proved recently that the method of optical microscopy coupled with image analysis is an effective way to characterize the microstructure of nuclear graphite [10,17,18].…”

“…Based on the reflectance difference for visible light between porosity and graphitic material, it has been proved recently that the method of optical microscopy coupled with image analysis is an effective way to characterize the microstructure of nuclear graphite [10,17,18]. In this study, the thermal gravimetric method and automated image analysis are used to examine the oxidation behavior, pore structure development and the oxidized layer penetration of fine-grained IG-110 nuclear graphite under different oxidation conditions relevant to HTGR operating.…”