AlVis - An Aluminium-Foam Visualization and Investigation Tool

Authors

Andreas H. König, Helmut Doleisch, Eduard Gröller
Andreas Kottar
Brigitte Kriszt
Institute of Computer Graphics
Institute of Experimental Physics
Department of Material Science and Testing
Vienna University of Technology
Karlsplatz 13
A-1040 Vienna
Austria

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increased interest in metal foams in the field of material science. The stress absorbing potential is one of the most interesting properties for the application of aluminium foam (e.g. car manufacturing). Material scientists need to investigate the structure of metal foams in order to optimize their deformation behavior. An interactive tool for the investigation is presented in this work. Real-time surface rendering, automatic parameter determination, and display of local and global foam properties enable the user to understand the complex structure of the metal foam.
Keywords: aluminum foam investigation, surface extraction

Download the paper (.ps.gz).

Figures in the paper

Picture of aluminium foam sample

Taken with Nikon Coolpix digital camera. Size of sample is 22.3 x 22.0 x 30.0 mm.
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Generated visualization

OpenGl rendering, size of data set: 298MByte, 9112628 triangles rendered
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Colored macrocubes

Individually colored macrocubes allow a quick perception of feature size and depth information. The size of one macrocube in this image is 0.32 x 0.32 x 0.32mm.
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Cutting plane

Sample with cut-away part.
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Distance measuring metaphor

The current length of the rubber band is 0.37mm.
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Focusing

Although the application of a cutting plane allows the localization of interesting features (upper image), it does not help to gain an overall impression of foam cell size and distribution. Focusing improves the situation (lower image). Only cells, which are not cut open by the faces of the sample are rendered. Colors indicate the shape factor of cells
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Focused View based on cell size

upper image: largest 10% of all foam cells, lower image: smallest 20%, middle image: both
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Focused view based on shape of cells

Blue cells: close to the shape of a sphere, small value of shape criterion f; green: medium value of f; red: large value of f.
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