ASSESSMENT OF THE PORE GEOMETRY OF STEREOLITHOGRAPHIC MODELS BY HIGH-RESOLUTION MRI

It is becoming increasingly evident that material strength and other m echanical properties depend not only on the density but also on the in ternal architecture of the structure in question. The internal structu res of five different stereolithographic samples were examined noninva sively using high resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRT), The ima ge analysis techniques of segmentation applied to the acquired images allowed the quantification of the structural parameters mean pore size and pore separation. These parameters were quantified along many angu lar orientations with a spatial resolution of 0.12 mm, and their distr ibutions clearly revealed the structural anisotropy of the samples. (C ) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.