Measuring spatial orientation of short fiber reinforced thermoplastics by image analysis

A computer based measuring strategy to determine spatial orientation of short glass fibers from the cross‐section of single fibers is presented. A practicable way of correcting the inclination‐dependent probability of hitting a fiber is shown as well as the correction of fiber‐end intersections. The latter is done by pattern recognition and application of a set of FORTRAN subroutines. A simple model allows the approximate calculation of thermal expansion as a function of volume content and fiber orientation. This serves as an applicability test for the measuring system.