Pore structure analysis on activated carbon fibers—By cluster and watershed transform method

The microimage of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) obtained from SEM or TEM has low signal to noise ratio (SNR). And the objects in image overlapped together. Image processing methods based on clustering analysis and watershed transform were applied to explore the macropores morphology structure of ACFs. The microimage shows that abundant round-shaped macropores with pore size around 50–200 nm, some of which cluster in the form of ring, distribute on ACF surface. Through clustering analysis, we calculated the surface area of macropores and their distributions. The results showed that the pores characterize within three regions, (1) the pore objects smaller than 30 pixels distributing nearly uniformly; (2) those with pixels between 30 and 165 peaking at lower region and (3) those larger than 165 pixels having fewer numbers and provide the main part of clusters. According to watershed transform segmentation analysis, the overlapped pores in one cluster were separated from each other. The number and other morphology parameters of macropores are calculated automatically and accurately in this paper.