Reconstruction and Quantitative Characterization of Multiphase, Multiscale Three-Dimensional Microstructure of a Cast Al-Si Base Alloy

The serial sectioning technique is well known for the reconstruction of three-dimensional (3D) microstructures of opaque materials. In recent years, techniques also have been developed for the reconstruction of high-fidelity, large-volume segments of 3D microstructures that use montage serial sections and robot-assisted automated acquisitions of montage serial sections. This article reports the reconstruction of the multiphase, multiscale 3D microstructure of a permanent mold cast unmodified Al-12 wt pct Si-1 wt pct Ni base alloy that contains eutectic Si platelets, coarse primary polyhedral Si particles, Fe-rich script intermetallic particles, and pores. These constituents are segmented, reconstructed, rendered, and characterized in three dimensions. The estimated 3D microstrucutral attributes include the distribution of eutectic platelet thickness; the mean volume, mean surface area, and mean thickness of the eutectic Si platelets; the mean volume and the mean surface area of the polyhedral primary Si particles; and the mean number of faces, edges, and corners on the polyhedral primary Si particles.