Digital protocols for statistical quantification of microstructures from microscopy images of polycrystalline nickel-based superalloys

摘要: This paper presents new digital image analysis protocols and workflows for the quantification of size distributions of key microstructural features (e.g., grain size, γ’ size) and γ’ volume fraction in polycrystalline nickel-based superalloys. These digital protocols leverage recently established image analyses algorithms that have been shown to be computationally efficient and scalable. They allow consideration of very large sample sizes (both larger scan sizes and larger number of images), and the extraction of reliable and reproducible microstructure statistics. For grain size analysis, electron backscatter diffraction was used to characterize the polycrystalline microstructure, and angularly resolved chord length distribution (AR-CLD) analysis was performed to reliably quantify the grain size and morphology distribution. For γ’ size and volume fraction analysis, back-scattered electron imaging in the scanning electron …