Multifractal approach for a biological porous media: Human dentin case

Abstract

A multifractal characterization to human dentin porosity is made. Micrographs of human dentin samples gotten from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were studied in order to characterize porosity. We got the generalized dimensions (multifractal moments) $D_q$ for pore space and matrix skeleton on gray scale and binary images for samples of both gender. For the case, we found that superficial porosity ${\eta }_s$ is linked to mass fractal dimension $D_0$ in an approximately linear relationship as $D_0\approx {\eta }_s+\overline{d}$ for binary images. In addition, probability density distribution (PDD) for pore diameters is found a normal PDD type. Other quantities of interest like mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum pore diameters, voit ratios, and percentage of chemical composition are reported. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: SEM sample, images and procedure for multifractal analysis are detailed. Micro patterns in grayscale are multifractal and in binary scale are monofractals. Superficial porosity is relate to mass fractal dimension approximately linearly. From the porosity values, voit ratios are determined. Pores diameters obey a normal PDD.

Keywords: 2-D micro patterns; human dentin porosity; multifractal analysis; scanning electron microscopy.