Quantitative Analysis of Composite Polymeric Membrane Structure Using Contour Morphological Heterogeneity Functions

We have developed a quantitative method for characterizing the actual multilayer polymer material-made membranes' architecture with a computer analysis of their scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The proposed approach consists of contour morphological heterogeneity function (CMHF) calculations. The approbation was carried out on polysulfone, polytetrafluoroethylene and polyimide-made membranes. The corresponding CMHF series were computed for different depths. It was possible to identify the structural zones' location for all the considered membranes. The developed technique provides the possibility of standardizing the SEM images' analysis and determining the thicknesses of the surface, transition and volumetric layers of filtering and separating equipment elements. The suggested algorithm can automate the membrane's structure and architecture metrological analysis with computer vision techniques.