Image analysis of insulation mineral fibres

We present two methods for measuring the diameter and length of man-made vitreous fibres based on the automated image analysis of scanning electron microscopy images. The fibres we want to measure are used in materials such as glass wool, which in turn are used for thermal and acoustic insulation. The measurement of the diameters and lengths of these fibres is used by the glass wool industry for quality control purposes. To obtain reliable quality estimators, the measurement of several hundred images is necessary. These measurements are usually obtained manually by operators. Manual measurements, although reliable when performed by skilled operators, are slow due to the need for the operators to rest often to retain their ability to spot faint fibres on noisy backgrounds. Moreover, the task of measuring thousands of fibres every day, even with the help of semi-automated image analysis systems, is dull and repetitive. The need for an automated procedure which could replace manual measurements is quite real. For each of the two methods that we propose to accomplish this task, we present the sample preparation, the microscope setting and the image analysis algorithms used for the segmentation of the fibres and for their measurement. We also show how a statistical analysis of the results can alleviate most measurement biases, and how we can estimate the true distribution of fibre lengths by diameter class by measuring only the lengths of the fibres visible in the field of view.