Systematic and objective identification of the microstructure around damage directly from images

TL;DR

This paper introduces an automated imaging method to analyze the microstructure around damage sites in multi-phase materials, providing objective, noise-robust insights without manual phase identification.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel, automated approach to determine phase distribution around damage in materials directly from images, eliminating manual intervention and phase identification.

Findings

Revealed subtle differences in microstructure around damage in steel

Method effectively averages out noise and fluctuations

Applicable to dual-phase steel microstructures

Abstract

An original experimental approach is presented to automatically determine the average phase distribution around damage sites in multi-phase materials. An objective measure is found to be the average intensity around damage sites, calculated using many images. This method has the following benefits: no phase identification or manual interventions are required, and statistical fluctuations and measurement noise are effectively averaged. The method is demonstrated for dual-phase steel, revealing subtle unexpected differences in the morphology surrounding damage in strongly and weakly banded microstructures.