Minkowski functionals and fractography of aluminum alloys

This paper is devoted to evaluation of Minkowski functionals for quantitative characterization of fractography surfaces obtained on aluminum alloys. Two typical fractographic surfaces have been reconstructed to simulate brittle and viscous types of fracture. Three Minkowski functionals such as Minkowski volume V, surface S and Euler–Poincare connectivity χ measures have been calculated to evaluate their sensitivity to the type of fracture. These values have been calculated from two images synthesized to simulate brittle and viscous types of fracture. It was shown that all three functionals can be used as integral characteristics for quantitative characterization of fracture surfaces. However, the connectivity is the most informative parameter to determine the percolation threshold between the unconnected and connected structures.