Original article Enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of characterizing polymeric cellular structures using 3D-based computed tomography Pedram Karimipour-Fard , Ibrahim Naeem, Atef Mohany, Remon Pop-Iliev and Ghaus Rizvi Abstract Characterizing the morphology of polymeric foams is crucial for determining their practical applicability. The internal cellular structure of polymeric foams is typically analyzed by 2 D imaging techniques, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. The problem with these techniques is that their tests are tedious, destructive, and the accuracy of the obtained results is questionable. The objective of this paper is to establish and experimentally verify an efficient 3- dimensional (3 D) Microcomputed-tomography based methodology for reliably estimating and character- izing each of the phases commonly present in multiple types of polymeric foam samples, such as the open, the closed, and the solid phase. A comparative study was carried out between morphology data obtained from 2-dimensional (2 D) analysis and those obtained from 3 D analysis to investigate the reliability of the 2 D analysis results. In this context, the experimental results revealed that by using a 2 D method the open porosity was underestimated at the expense of closed porosity, which in turn was overestimated, while the total porosity was not impacted. Also, visualization of the internal structure of polymer foams by using Micro-CT provides details about the 3 D Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada Corresponding author: Pedram Karimipour-Fard, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe St N, Oshawa, ON L1H 0C5, Canada. Email: pedram.karimipourfard@uoit.ca Journal of Cellular Plastics 0(0) 1–20 ! The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0021955X20948556 journals.sagepub.com/home/cel