A tube made with a glass-fiber reinforced polymer-matrix composite material was characterized through digital microscopy. A circumferential section of the tube was observed in a Scanning Electron Microscopy with digital image acquisition. A mosaic of high magnification images was created in order to allow complete characterization of the material. Through the development of an image analysis method, the fiber diameters, the winding angles and the discrimination of the layers were obtained.
composites; digital microscopy; filament winding; image analysis