Measuring pore diameter distribution of gelcast ceramic foams from two-dimensional cross sections

Increasing applications for gelcast ceramic foams is making the effective, accurate and cost effective measurement of pore diameter and distribution of significant value to a wide range of research fields. Current methods either do not directly measure pore diameter or they require high equipment and time costs. Measuring pore diameter directly from sample cross sections is both rapid and cost effective but, due to the random nature of the pore location during sectioning of the sample, it under predicts the pore diameter. The proposed method identified that the mean measured pore diameter was 79% (2 s.f.) of the actual pore diameter. Numerical methods for correcting the pore distribution as well as the average pore diameter are presented.