APPLICATION OF IMAGE-ANALYSIS FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF SPATIAL ARRANGEMENTS OF FEATURES IN MICROSTRUCTURE

A number of microstructural processes are sensitive to the spatial arr angements of features in microstructure. However, very little attentio n has been given in the past to the experimental measurements of the d escriptors of microstructural distance distributions due to the lack o f practically feasible methods. We present a digital image analysis pr ocedure to estimate the microstructural distance distributions. The ap plication of the technique is demonstrated via estimation of K functio n, radial distribution function, and nearest-neighbor distribution fun ction of hollow spherical carbon particulates in a polymer matrix comp osite, observed in a metallographic section.