Multifractal Analysis of the Mechanical PropOKerties of the Texture of Biopolymer-Inorganic Composites of Chitosan-Silicon Dioxide

Abstract

An original multifractal algorithm is proposed for calculating the fractal characteristics of the cluster texture of biopolymer-inorganic (BIN) composites from microphotographic images (MPIs) of their texture, which allows one to determine the quantitative dependence of the mechanical properties of biopolymer–inorganic composites on the characteristics of their cluster texture. As a result of the studies conducted on the MPI texture of the “chitosan-silicon dioxide” BIN composites using a multifractal algorithm, it was found that such important indicators as strength and plasticity can be quantitatively described using generalized fractal pixel dimensions of MPI samples of the BIN composite. It was established that when the amount of silicon dioxide in the samples of the BIN composite changes, the mechanical characteristics of the BIN composites, such as strength and plasticity, can be quantitatively described using generalized fractal pixel dimensions of the MPIs of the BIN composite samples.

Keywords

• chitosan
• silicon dioxide
• optical microscopy
• multifractal dimension
• mechanical strength
• plant protection