USING FRACTAL DIMENSIONS TO CHARACTERIZE ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE IMAGES OF EPOXY-RESIN FRACTURE SURFACES

Atomic force microscopy was used to obtain images of the fracture surf ace of a tri-ethylene-tetramine and 4,4 (methyl thylidene) epoxy resin . Images were obtained in the mirror, mist, and hackle regions of each sample. Fractal dimensions were calculated from the images using the box dimension and contour analysis method. The box dimension fractal d imension increment for all regions on the fracture surfaces were deter mined to average 0.26 +/- 0.06 and the contour analysis fractal dimens ion increment were determined to average 0.46 +/- 0.05. The box dimens ion technique is shown to provide the ''the'' fractal dimension of the surface. The fractal dimension measurements for all three regions ind icated that the fracture surface was self-affine and possibly self-sim ilar.