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Paper to be published at 25 International SAMPE Europe Conference March 30 – April 1 2004, Paris, 2004

Quality Analysis of Reinforcement Structures for Composites

by Digital Image Processing
Markus Schneider, Tenax Fibers, Germany
Klaus Edelmann, Airbus, Germany
Uwe Tiltmann, Saertex Wagener, Germany
Abstract
In order to judge the textile quality of Non Crimp Fabrics (NCF) (e.g. homogeneity and orien-
tation of the reinforcement fibers, gaps between the fibers, etc.) a discontinuous laboratory test-
ing method is developed which is based on a digital image processing system. A flat bed PC
scanner with an additional transmitted light device is used for the digital image acquisition of flat
fabric reinforcement. In principle, the pixels of a digital image are similar to a map of numbers,
which in this case range from 0 (i.e. black pixel) to 255 (i.e. white pixel). In this map all pixels
within user-defined ranges can be detected by the software. Finally, the user selects geometri-
cal dimensions (e.g. distance, size of an area) to be measured and the software analyses all
pixels according to the selection. All data is automatically displayed in tabular form and can be
immediately converted into diagrams or histograms.

The development of this quality inspection system started with standard biaxial NCF. According
to Airbus Industry Material Specifications (AIMS) standard testing routines are developed in
order to quantify the following parameters: regularity of knitting structure (distance between all
adjacent knitting points), fish eye measurement in the layers, gap quantification, reinforcement
fiber orientation and abrasion particles.

In future work the results of the digital image processing of the reinforcement structures and
standard mechanical testing of composites with identical textiles will be compared. Moreover,
this system will be expanded to include other reinforcement types such as woven fabrics and
UD-prepregs. The aim is to get an automatic general system suitable for quality control of dif-
ferent reinforcements for carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP).

1 Introduction
The number of different reinforcement types for composite structures has steadily increased
during the past two decades and now covers traditional UD-prepregs, fabrics, non-crimp fabrics
and highly sophisticated niche textiles. Previously the quality (e.g. homogeneity and orientation
of the reinforcement fibers, gaps between the fibers, etc.) of these structures had to be judged
either directly by visual inspection or, indirectly, with mechanical testing and quality control
procedures of the final laminate composite. These procedures are time consuming, expensive
and generally unsuitable as techniques to improve production processes or material
performance.

Nevertheless, it is important to characterize, and if necessary to optimize, the quality of textiles

as soon as possible in the production process in order to meet high mechanical requirements.
The mechanical performance of CRFP reinforced with textiles is not only determined by the type
of fiber and resin used, but is also affected by the textile quality. In particular, the accuracy of
the reinforcement fiber alignment affects the fiber dependent properties of the final CFRP. This
fiber orientation is determined in the manufacturing process of the textile, but can also be
modified during the manufacturing process.

This paper describes the development of a tool to automatically detect and document fabric
anomalies as described in typical fabric material specifications. The prime focus is on bi-axial
NCF, because these materials are standards in current Airbus material specifications.

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Paper to be published at 25 International SAMPE Europe Conference March 30 – April 1 2004, Paris, 2004

gap between two 2 Quality Characteristics

missing knitting loops carbon fibers of NCF

Warp-knitted multiaxial layer

fabrics, or so-called Non Crimp
Fabrics, are produced in two
angle between steps: Parallel reinforcement fiber
orientation and curvature knitting yarn and
plies (e.g. out of carbon fibers) are
of knitting yarn carbon fiber
placed on top of each other in
different multiaxial orientations as
required in the later component.
Additionally, chopped fibers, fiber
orientation of mats and/or other materials can
carbon fibers
be introduced on the outer
surfaces, or in between the single
plies. Finally, this whole reinforce-
distance between ment system is fixed by a loop
knitting points system via warping.
fuzz ball

Figure 1: NCF with exemplary defects

Defects may occur in both pro-
duction steps and also during
subsequent manufacturing of the
CFRP components. Airbus Industry Material Specifications (AIMS) define and quantify several
defects of NCF, for example;

• crease or wrinkle (break or line, usually caused by a sharp fold),

• cut and tear (adjacent yarns are cut or broken),
• yarn splice (broken or severed yarn, which is rejoined),
• fuzz ball (accumulation of loose or frayed fibers within the fabric or on the surface, Fig. 1),
• gap (open space between parallel fibres or even between filaments, Figure 1),
• missing knitting loop (partly missing knitting row, Figure 1),
• incorrect fiber orientation (fiber, which is not aligned or not along given orientation, Fig. 1),
• missing reinforcement yarn (totally missing reinforcement fiber).

In order to limit the effects of these defects, the maximum number of their occurrences is
regulated in material specification. Materials are usually checked by means of a visual
inspection upon shipping by the material supplier and upon receipt by the customer. At the
moment, automated tools of inspection to detect and quantify the number of defects are not
available.

3 Quality Analysis of NCF by Digital Image Analysis

3.1 Working Principle
The system consists of a flat bed scanner with an additional transmitted light device, a state-of-
the-art, but powerful personal computer and a standard digital imaging software package.
Based on this equipment a custom-made routine is developed in order to analyse and quantify
the textile quality of NCF.

High-resolution, flat bed scanners are capable of acquiring a digital picture of any flat textile;
especially the transmitted light device delivers further insights. Other reasons to choose a
scanner instead of a microscope or a digital camera with additional illumination are the easily
adjustable and reproducible light and scanning conditions. In order to find a compromise
between all conflicting aspects, i.e. file size and processing speed as well as sampling size and
resolution, a picture in the size of 10 cm by 10 cm is scanned with a resolution of 720 dpi.

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Paper to be published at 25 International SAMPE Europe Conference March 30 – April 1 2004, Paris, 2004

These parameters produce a manageable file with a size of around 8 MByte, which is finally
saved in a grey value 8 bit TIF-format. In principle, the pixels of a digital image are similar to a
map of numbers, which in this case range from 0 (i.e. black pixel) to 255 (i.e. white pixel).

Figure 2 presents a scanned picture of

filament gap an NCF in order to explain the working
principle. One may see two loops of the
knitting yarn in the vertical direction and
the carbon fibers under an angle of 45°.
so-called fish eye In the centre of the picture a so-called
fish eye results from the break through
of a knitting yarn. Two disadvantages
stem from fish eyes: The carbon fibers
knitting yarn are no longer straight and the open
areas of the fish eyes will end up in the
final laminate as unreinforced resin rich
areas. Fish eyes and wider gaps, which
may extend over several knitting points
carbon fiber
or even over the total width of an NCF,
are discontinuities in the laminate and
Figure 2: Detail Picture of NCF may cause final failure of the laminate
(Please note that the above mentioned scanning
conditions are not kept.)
and therefore are important to analyse.

In Figure 3 a histo-
7000 gram is plotted of the
treshold value: 30 - 173
(medium light pixels) grey values, which
6000 i.e. carbon fibers
generate Figure 2.
Range 1 The peak of the histo-
5000 treshold value: 0 - 29
(dark pixels) gram is given by the
majority of grey pixels
frequency

4000 i.e. gaps/fish eyes Range 2

treshold value: 174 - 255
(light pixels) coming from the wide
3000 i.e. knitting yarns area covered with
carbon fibers. By
2000 means of the digital
image software all
1000
pixels in a user-
0
defined range can be
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 255
selected: In range 1
with a threshold from
dark grey value light
0 to 29 all dark pixels
Figure 3: Histogram of the Grey Value distribution are chosen. These
pixels present fish
eyes, but also gaps between the carbon fibers or even between single filaments. In range 2 all
light pixels (threshold 174 to 255) build the knitting yarns.

If the two ranges are applied to Figure 2, the interesting items of NCF are selected and marked
in colour (Figure 4: yellow or light areas = range 1, green or dark areas = range 2). In the next
step the digital software measures based on implemented standard routines selected
geometrical dimensions on all particles, which are build from connected pixels of the same
range. The following dimensions of NCF are measured in detail;

• orientation, width and area of fish eyes and gaps (between single filaments as well as
between whole carbon yarns),
• width of knitting loops (i.e. knitting errors),
• orientation and curvature of knitting yarns.

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Paper to be published at 25 International SAMPE Europe Conference March 30 – April 1 2004, Paris, 2004

These data are automatically

orientation of filament gap ~ displayed in tabular form and the
local orientation of carbon fiber measurements of all individual
fish eyes, gaps, knitting yarns etc.
orientation
are collected and statistically
of fish eye analysed. By combining certain
results further information are
gained. For example, the
orientation of carbon fibers is
calculated from the orientation of
all small filament gaps as well as
area of fish eye
from the fish eye directions. The
difference between the orientation
of the knitting yarns and the
width of fish eye carbon fibers indicates the
accuracy of the production
process.

width of knitting loop

3.2 First Results

orientation of knitting yarn In Figure 5 the described working
principle is applied to a 10 cm by
Figure 4: Detail Picture of an NCF with selected pixels 10 cm scan of NCF. One may
and geometrical dimensions easily see that the wide gap
between the carbon fibers is
detected (yellow or light area) as
well as small fish eyes at all knitting points. Additionally, the knitting yarns are found and
marked in green or dark. A knitting error (detailed picture in Figure 5) increases the measured
width of the knitting row and thus will be detected.

A short summary of the final

results is shown in Table 1, which
compares three different NCF:
NCF 1 in standard quality, NCF 2
with a wide gap over the whole
gap
NCF-width, shown in Figure 5,
and NCF 3 with a strong
curvature in the knitting rows. For
example the gap in NCF 2 is
knitting error detected via 14 particles as gap 2
(width > 2 mm). The maximum
width of these particles is 3,5 mm
(marked in yellow or light shaded
in Table 1). The knitting error in
NCF 2 produces a high width of
3,2 mm in the local width of the
knitting row (marked in yellow or
light shaded in Table 1) compared
to a standard level of 1,0 mm
Figure 5: NCF 2 with gap and knitting errors (marked in green or dark shaded
in Table 1). Also, the curvature of
the knitting rows in NCF 3
increases the width of the total
knitting row to a value of 6,5 mm
(standard mean value 1,4 mm).

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Paper to be published at 25 International SAMPE Europe Conference March 30 – April 1 2004, Paris, 2004

filament gaps gap knitting carbon

fish eyes
(carbon fiber orient.) (width > 2 mm) parameter fiber

curvature of
orient. vs.

of knitt. row
orientation

orientation

orientation

orientation

local width
knitt. rows
knitting
yarn

width

width

width
area

area

area
orient.

number of
configuration

statistics of all detected part. 3659 1894 0 25

NCF 1 -
standard

detected
mean value 0,03 0,1 12,9 0,4 0,2 14,1 135,7 1,4 0,9 47,8
particles
maximum 0,30 0,1 1,7 0,4 1,7 1,0
number of
knitting error

statistics of all 1775 1757 14 37

NCF 2 -
gap and

detected part.
detected
mean value 0,03 0,1 149,0 1,4 0,5 163,4 15,7 2,9 27,3 47,2 1,5 0,9 47,2
particles
maximum 0,30 0,1 3,3 0,7 18,4 3,5 3,3 3,2
number of
knitting yarns
curvature in

statistics of all 2899 2139 0 27

NCF 3 -

detected part.
detected
mean value 0,03 0,1 30,7
0,4 0,2 37,4 136,0 3,1 0,8 44,5
particles
maximum 0,40 0,1
3,4 0,7 6,5 1,0
Table 1: Summary of Final results of three different NCF analysed by digital image processing

The current drawbacks of the described principles are that only visible layers may be scanned.
The separation of multilayer NCF via melting the knitting thread may provide an interim solution.
However, until now the system works only offline on a laboratory scale. In order to solve these
drawbacks, it must be a main focus of future developments to install directly the system onto the
NCF-production machine and collect the digital pictures of individual layers online.

4 Outlook
In addition to the NCF discussed in this paper, this
technology can also be used on a number of other flat,
semi finished products employed to manufacture high
performance CFRP components. These semi-finished
products include fabrics (used in various RTM
processes) and prepregs (usually processed in
autoclaves).

An example of a digitally processed image of a woven

fabric is depicted in Figure 6 where light reflections on
the warp yarns are used to measure the yarn width
behind every single weaving point. The numbers in
Figure 6: yarn width (in mm) of warp Figure 6 are the actual yarn widths in millimetres.
yarns in a woven fabric Based on these figures the width variation may easily
be determined.

A further measurement of woven fabrics is shown in

Figure 7. By means of the transmitted light device a
transparent projection is created. The small light marks
in Figure 7 result from fiber-uncovered areas in the
immediate area of weaving points. If one subtracts
from the total area of the analysed woven fabric the
area of the detected marks, the area coverage is
determined (e.g. 93,2 % area coverage for the fabric in
Figure 7). Of course, other measurements based on
the light marks are possible: yarn orientation in both
horizontal and vertical direction, etc.

In the case of prepregs, especially when layed up on

Figure 7: area coverage of woven fabric
via transmitted light device
curved surfaces, so-called blisters may occur. Blisters

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Paper to be published at 25 International SAMPE Europe Conference March 30 – April 1 2004, Paris, 2004

are small areas lifting on the surface and predominately appearing as prepreg is laid flat from a
polythene outermost wind roll configuration. With the tool developed the amount of blistering
can be characterized for different materials. The blistering varies both in the shape and number
of blisters for different materials (Figure 8, left and middle). An example of blisters detected by
the software is shown in the right picture of Figure 8.

20 mm 20 mm
20 mm 20 mm

Figure 8: Blisters on different Prepreg Materials

The procedure described above will allow automated inspection according to product
specification of semi-finished products by both the supplier and user. Compared to the currently
employed inspection methods, this will result in a significant reduction of cost and effort.
Additionally, the developed tool can also be used for an in-situ online quality monitoring tool. If
this tool is integrated in the process control, process parameters may automatically be changed
during the production cycle.

Furthermore, quantified textile quality parameters will enable a reproducible comparison of the
mechanical performance of such materials containing textiles with different defects. The effect
of these defects will be correlated with the mechanical performance of these materials. Once
the effects of certain fabric defects are known the need to perform additional mechanical testing
with fabrics can be eliminated. This will save the yarn and fabric manufacturer time and effort
during the development process.

5 References

Yaguchi, H.; Hojo, H.; Lee, D.G., Kim, E.G.: Measurement of planar orientation of fibers for
reinforced thermoplastics using image processing. International Polymer Processing (1995) 10
(3), p. 262 – 269
Huber, U.; Maier, M.: Optische Bestimmung der Faserorientierung in Verbundwerkstoffen.
Nachr. Chem. Tech. Lab. 45 (1997), Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, p. 134 - 136
Fischer, G.: Quantitative Ermittlung der Orientierung von Kurzglasfasern mit der Bildanalyse.
Kunststoffe 77 (5), Carl Hanser Verlag, München, 1987, p. 509 – 512
v. Diest, K.: Entwicklung einer Bilderkennungssoftware zur Bestimmung der Faserorientierung
von GMT-Bauteilen. IVW-Bericht 93 - 57
Michaeli, W.; Heber, M.: Easy and quick method for the measurement of fibre orientation.
ANTEC 1994, p. 1790 – 1793