Discrete Image Model and Segmentation for Microstructure Features Identification in Ductile Irons

Ductile irons offer a wide range of mechanical properties at a lower cost than the older malleable iron. These properties mainly depend on the shape characteristics of the metal matrix microstructure and on the graphite elements morphology; these geometrical features are currently evaluated by the experts visual inspection. This work provides an automatic procedure for a reliable estimation of standard parameters of the material microstructure morphology based on a novel image segmentation technique. The procedure has been validated versus standard segmentation techniques, and successfully tested on specimens of different kinds of ductile irons of a typical production.