On the combined use of Digital Image Correlation and Micro Computed Tomography to measure fibre orientation in short fibre reinforced polymers

Measurement of fibre orientation in short fibre reinforced polymer is crucial for the description of their microstructure and subsequent multiscale modelling. Micro Computed Tomography is becoming the standard method for the reconstruction of the inner microstructure of short fibre reinforced polymers and different methods exist for the analysis of orientations. Applications of Digital Image Correlation to X-rays Micro Computed Tomography data sets to measure fibre orientation in continuous fibre reinforced polymers exist. In this work, the possibility of extending the application of the Digital Image Correlation technique to measure fibre orientation in short fibre reinforced polymers is investigated and a new procedure is proposed. The method is applied to two different data sets obtained by scanning the same sample using both a synchrotron micro CT equipment and an industrial scanner. Results are compared with other existing methods and discussed to identify possible future improvements.