Three Dimensional Microstructures: Statistical Analysis of Second Phase Particles in AA7075-T651

This paper describes some aspects of reconstruction of microstructures in three dimensions. A distinction is drawn between tomographic approaches that seek to characterize specific volumes of material, either with or without diffraction, and statistical approaches that focus on particular aspects of microstructure. A specific example of the application of the statistical approach is given for an aerospace aluminum alloy in which the distributions of coarse constituent particles are modeled. Such distributions are useful for modeling fatigue crack initiation and propagation.