Cross-virtuality analysis of rich X-ray computed tomography data for materials science applications

We demonstrate a collaborative visualisation framework using a traditional desktop-based setup together with a virtual reality-based system for the analysis of rich X-Ray Computed Tomography Data (XCT) from composite materials. The framework supports experts in the time-consuming and cognitively demanding task of analysing objects, in particular, curved fibres and pores, along with their characteristics, such as length, orientation, or shape. Our framework employs visualisation methods in virtual reality focusing on a detailed spatial impression, combined with desktop-based methods on a large-screen multi-touch display focusing on analysing characteristics and their distributions. We provide two case studies on fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) datasets, showcasing the potential of our framework. One case study analyses a FRP containing short, strongly curved polyethylene terephthalate fibres. A second study explores small elliptic pores inside a carbon FRP dataset. Our preliminary results show that the addition of virtual reality to the classical desktop-based workflow can enhance the spatial understanding of the dataset, encourage collaboration, as well as foster engagement with the data.