Some 3D reconstructions of Scanning Electron Microscope images

As told by Shanklin, 2016, 2D SEM images can be turned into 3D object models. “3D surface modeling that can be created using scanning electron microscope absolutely lead to significant understanding of attributes of microscopic surfaces, such as fracture toughness, crack growth and propagation or fracture resistance” (Shanklin, 2016). More recently, Dong et al., 2024, stressed that “SEM can carry out micro-nano scale three-dimensional measurement,” and that “three-dimensional models can provide more accurate information than two dimensional images”. Besides discussing the “commonly used SEM 3D reconstruction methods”, Dong and coworkers are proposing a new method. The references in Shanklin, 2016, and Dong et al., 2024, are providing the literature on the subject. In this work, we show some cases of 3D reconstructions, as done in 2017, with an approach based on a single image. We considered SEM images, usually in grey-scale, turning them into .ppm format. The .ppm file has been read by a Fortran program to create the 3D mesh (see Appendix), by means of vertices and faces, saved in .obj file format. The position of the vertex is given by the position x and y of the pixel in the .ppm image. The value of the pixel grey tone is giving the z-coordinate of the vertex. Once the .obj file is written, its visualizations can be obtained by means of https://3dviewer.net/ and GIMP software.