Application of stereology in engineering of building materials

The article presents the literature review about the application of stereology and image analysis for quantitative evaluation of the building materials structure. At the outset, the development of stereological methods and computer image analysis techniques in the study of building materials was provided. Then quantitative structure parameters were defined and their methods of determining were showed. In the paper, the application of image analysis for the determination of properties of the cement composites was reported, including: an assessment of the porosity of the hardened concrete, determination of the aggregate distribution in the cementitious matrix, the crack analysis. It was found that the leading problem of image analysis is the process of sample preparation in order to obtain the correct extraction of examinated phase, and measurement automation process.