An approach to mitigate effects of colour variation, specularity and pores on microtexture analysis of aggregates. Issue Volume 21:Issued 3(2020) (23rd February 2020) - Ravanshad, Abolfazl
ABSTRACT: Previous research indicated that color variation, specularity, and porosity, which are not related to surface roughness or texture of aggregate, affect the value of Texture Index (TI) determined using standard procedures associated with Aggregate Image Measurement System (AIMS). In response, a new technique called Photometric Stereo-Independent Component Analysis (PS-ICA) was developed and found to effectively mitigate color variation effect. Reduced light intensity was found to partially, but not completely, mitigate specularity effect. However, effect of pores could not be mitigated with measurements obtained from existing AIMS procedures. An extensive evaluation was conducted on a broad range of aggregates to determine whether TI values obtained before and after polishing using PS-ICA and reduced light intensity resulted in appropriate assessment of polishing resistance. For aggregates exhibiting strong specularity, it was found that specularity effect increased after initial polishing, which increased TI, thereby confounding and sometimes overwhelming the reduction in TI associated with reduced roughness. The specularity effect appeared to remain constant after initial polishing, such that further polishing resulted in a more consistent reduction in TI. For aggregates not exhibiting specularity, reduction in PS-ICA TI after initial polishing was found to be an excellent parameter to assess polishing resistance.