A Framework for Supervised and Unsupervised Segmentation and Classification of Materials Microstructure Images

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhang, Kungang, Chen, Wei, Liu, Wing K., Brinson, L. Catherine, Apley, Daniel W.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866909769624715264
author Zhang, Kungang
Chen, Wei
Liu, Wing K.
Brinson, L. Catherine
Apley, Daniel W.
author_facet Zhang, Kungang
Chen, Wei
Liu, Wing K.
Brinson, L. Catherine
Apley, Daniel W.
contents Microstructure of materials is often characterized through image analysis to understand processing-structure-properties linkages. We propose a largely automated framework that integrates unsupervised and supervised learning methods to classify micrographs according to microstructure phase/class and, for multiphase microstructures, segments them into different homogeneous regions. With the advance of manufacturing and imaging techniques, the ultra-high resolution of imaging that reveals the complexity of microstructures and the rapidly increasing quantity of images (i.e., micrographs) enables and necessitates a more powerful and automated framework to extract materials characteristics and knowledge. The framework we propose can be used to gradually build a database of microstructure classes relevant to a particular process or group of materials, which can help in analyzing and discovering/identifying new materials. The framework has three steps: (1) segmentation of multiphase micrographs through a recently developed score-based method so that different microstructure homogeneous regions can be identified in an unsupervised manner; (2) {identification and classification of} homogeneous regions of micrographs through an uncertainty-aware supervised classification network trained using the segmented micrographs from Step $1$ with their identified labels verified via the built-in uncertainty quantification and minimal human inspection; (3) supervised segmentation (more powerful than the segmentation in Step $1$) of multiphase microstructures through a segmentation network trained with micrographs and the results from Steps $1$-$2$ using a form of data augmentation. This framework can iteratively characterize/segment new homogeneous or multiphase materials while expanding the database to enhance performance. The framework is demonstrated on various sets of materials and texture images.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_07107
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Framework for Supervised and Unsupervised Segmentation and Classification of Materials Microstructure Images
Zhang, Kungang
Chen, Wei
Liu, Wing K.
Brinson, L. Catherine
Apley, Daniel W.
Applications
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
Microstructure of materials is often characterized through image analysis to understand processing-structure-properties linkages. We propose a largely automated framework that integrates unsupervised and supervised learning methods to classify micrographs according to microstructure phase/class and, for multiphase microstructures, segments them into different homogeneous regions. With the advance of manufacturing and imaging techniques, the ultra-high resolution of imaging that reveals the complexity of microstructures and the rapidly increasing quantity of images (i.e., micrographs) enables and necessitates a more powerful and automated framework to extract materials characteristics and knowledge. The framework we propose can be used to gradually build a database of microstructure classes relevant to a particular process or group of materials, which can help in analyzing and discovering/identifying new materials. The framework has three steps: (1) segmentation of multiphase micrographs through a recently developed score-based method so that different microstructure homogeneous regions can be identified in an unsupervised manner; (2) {identification and classification of} homogeneous regions of micrographs through an uncertainty-aware supervised classification network trained using the segmented micrographs from Step $1$ with their identified labels verified via the built-in uncertainty quantification and minimal human inspection; (3) supervised segmentation (more powerful than the segmentation in Step $1$) of multiphase microstructures through a segmentation network trained with micrographs and the results from Steps $1$-$2$ using a form of data augmentation. This framework can iteratively characterize/segment new homogeneous or multiphase materials while expanding the database to enhance performance. The framework is demonstrated on various sets of materials and texture images.
title A Framework for Supervised and Unsupervised Segmentation and Classification of Materials Microstructure Images
topic Applications
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.07107