Robust automatic high resolution segmentation of SOFC anode porosity in 3D.

Routine use of 3D characterization of SOFCs by focused ion beam (FIB) serial sectioning is generally restricted by the time consuming task of manually delineating structures within each image slice. We apply advanced image analysis algorithms to automatically segment the porosity phase of an SOFC anode in 3D. The technique is based on numerical approximations to partial differential equations to evolve a 3D surface to the desired phase boundary. Vector fields derived from the experimentally acquired data are used as the driving force. The automatic segmentation compared to manual delineation reveals and good correspondence and the two approaches are quantitatively compared. It is concluded that the. automatic approach is more robust, more reproduceable and orders of magnitude quicker than manual segmentation of SOFC anode porosity for subsequent quantitative 3D analysis. Lastly it is anticipated that the methodology can be extrapolated to all phases in the anode.