Systematic and objective identification of the microstructure around damage directly from images

An original experimental approach is presented to automatically determine the average phase distribution around damage sites in multi-phase materials. An objective measure is found to be the average intensity around damage sites, calculated using many images. This method has the following benefits: no phase identification or manual interventions are required, and statistical fluctuations and measurement noise are effectively averaged. The method is demonstrated for dual-phase steel, revealing subtle unexpected differences in the morphology surrounding damage in strongly and weakly banded microstructures.