Serial sectioning and digitization of porous media for two‐ and three‐dimensional analysis and reconstruction

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Abstract

<jats:title>SUMMARY</jats:title><jats:p>A procedure is proposed for serial sectioning of impregnated porous media, for photographing the sections under the microscope, and for digitizing the image using an IBM PC (XT) with a digitizing board.</jats:p><jats:p>The result is a three‐dimensional matrix containing the enhanced digitized image in a binary form of O's and I's which represent solid and pore spaces respectively.</jats:p><jats:p>The procedure was tested on three different porous materials: (1) a pack of glass beads, 170–350 μm; (2) Berca sandstone; and (3) Elora clay loam soil. Each of these was impregnated, forty‐six to eighty cross‐sections were prepared by close parallel polishing of 10–50 μm per section, and then the sections were photographed and digitized.</jats:p><jats:p>Examples of the real and digitized cross‐sectioned samples are given as well as an example of reconstructed images in a plane perpendicular to the plane of sampling.</jats:p><jats:p>It is proposed that the method of serial sectioning and automated digitization of porous media provides a powerful tool for further three‐dimensional geometrical and topological investigation of pore space to be used in models of fluid transport phenomena.</jats:p>

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