Automated Counting System for the ECE Fragmentation Test

J. Haywood 1, J. W. V. Miller 2 , M. Shridhar 2 , W. Merril 2 and T. Ladewski 1

A low-cost automated analysis system has
been developed to count glass particles in
accordance with the ECE fragmentation test. The
region to be counted is manually marked on the
print image and scanned into a PC using a
motorized hand scanner. Image processing is
performed on the scanned image to determine
the location of the marked region, compensate
for uneven illumination, reduce noise and
determine crack boundaries. Prior to counting, a
special restoration algorithm is used to fill in
missing parts of crack boundaries. The system
identifies and counts the number of particles
inside the region and on the boundary. The
results of the processing are displayed on the PC
and can be compared to the original image.

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