The fibre orientation distribution in a material sample of short fibre reinforced polyamide extracted from an injection moulded notched plate was analysed using two different methods, one based on micro-computed tomography and the Mean Intercept Length concept and the other based on the classical optical section method. By the optical method, a good agreement with tomography was obtained with a longitudinal section. A poorer agreement was found with a transverse section. The two methods are in agreement provided that the most suitable section is chosen when applying the optical method, which is where the fibres lie predominantly in the section plane. Moreover, results confirm that the analysis based on the MIL concept is capable of capturing important information about fibre orientation.
