Quantification of pore size distribution in the Z-direction of paper by using image analysis: Characterization of paper structure by image analysis

In this work, image analysis techniques and scanning electron microscope are shown to be appropriated for the development of new reference approaches for analyzing fibrous materials such as paper. These techniques allow a non destructive characterization of analyzed artefacts by using images acquired by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Particularly, a new method for quantifying pores in the Z-direction of paper is presented. The quantification is based on paper cross-sectional SEM images. The fraction and Z-distribution of pores were measured and related to optical and physical properties of paper. The fraction of pores was correlated with the surface roughness of some commercial paper based materials. The proposed method appears effective and gives reasonable results with respect to the quantification of pores in the paper structure. This method is expected to aid the efforts of papermakers to produce a paper structure for various end uses.