Porosity
plays an important role in materials mechanical and physical properties [1].
The latter include, for instance, compression and tensile strength, density,
and thermal conduction or expansion. It also impacts materials resistance to
chemical corrosion. The ensemble of these properties defi nes the behavior of the material under a given set of physical conditions
and its functionality as an intermediate or fi nal product. In one case,
high porosity is desired in the material if used for insulation or catalysis.
In contrast, low porosity is preferred for materials used by virtue of their
strength or their impermeability to fl uids [2]. In natural rocks,
like shale or sandstones for instance, pore volume is key to assessment of the
capacity of the rock formation as a reservoir for economically exploitable fl uids such as natural gas, oil, or water [3]. Generally, being
able to estimate accurately the proportion of pore volume and size distribution
reliably, quickly, and at lower cost is very important to many industries such as mining geology and oil industry.
using full abstract in the attached file