Morphology Characterization of Particle Filled Polymers by Tomographic Methods

Several polypropylene composites with varying amounts of inorganic particles of different sizes were investigated. In dependence of the particle sizes four different tomographic methods were used to describe the morphology 3-dimensionally. For particle sizes of several micrometers sub-μm X-ray tomography and light optical tomography are suitable whereas for smaller particle sizes scanning electron microscopy based methods, i.e. focused ion beam (FIB) tomography and in situ ultramicrotomy have to be used. The presentation will show the advantages and the limitations of every method. A comparison with two-dimensional morphology analysis will be done which shows the problems and errors of twodimensional methods in the description of orientation and shape especially in the case of low particle content.