Fibrous Materials Breakout Session: Innovative Approaches to Analysis and Modeling

This breakout session at the GeoDict Innovation Conference 2025 provides an opportunity for exploring advanced methodologies and innovations in the characterization, modeling, and application of fibrous materials. Fibrous materials are essential in industries such as lightweight automotive materials, filtration, and hygiene products. The properties of these materials depend on microstructural geometric statistics, making the analysis of individual fibers a powerful tool in material engineering. Fiber length, for example, is a fundamental parameter influencing material properties in composites and nonwovens. Through scientific presentations and collaborative discussions, participants of this session will gain insights into state-of-the-art techniques and future developments in this area.

Andreas Grießer presents a novel, non-destructive method for determining fiber length distributions in injection-molded composite materials using CT-scans. This approach combines advanced image processing with AI-driven segmentation techniques, enabling precise analysis of individual fiber properties for more detailed insights into fibrous structures and facilitated modeling of similar structures. Andreas Grießer will detail the neural network training process, its application to CT data, and the comparison of results with traditional experimental methods such as the FASEP apparatus. The presentation will illustrate the utility of this methodology in assessing material aging and improving composite performance through detailed statistical analyses of fiber properties.

In many cases, 2D images from SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) are more easily available and affordable than 3D imaging data. Furthermore, SEM offers a higher image resolution allowing also analysis of nano fibers. To get started with 3D modeling of theses materials, Lilli Burger demonstrates how 2D SEM images can be utilized to construct 3D models of fibrous structures. By employing a streamlined process within GeoDict, she will showcase how nanofiber geometries can be reconstructed, enabling comprehensive structural analyses and facilitating applications where direct 3D data acquisition is impractical.

Moderated by Oliver Rimmel, this interactive session encourages participants to engage in knowledge exchange, speaking about specific application cases and forward-looking ideas regarding fibrous material applications in GeoDict. Attendees are invited to share their research challenges and propose new features or enhancements, fostering a collaborative environment to shape future developments in the field. The contribution of 1-2 slides per attendee would be strongly appreciated. After discussion in the plenum, we are going to use the results of the discussion for planning of future developments in GeoDict.

We are looking forward to welcoming you in our fibrous materials breakout session and invite you to share slides on challenges and feature requests with us in advance.