Visualization of three-dimensional microstructures

Visualization, characterization, and representation of three-dimensional (3D) microstructures are of significant interest for understanding and modeling processing-microstructure-property relationships. In this contribution, an efficient and unbiased montage serial-sectioning technique is applied for reconstruction of large-volume (∼few mm3) high-resolution (∼1 μm) 3D microstructures of two composites that have different degrees of spatial clustering of SiC reinforcement particles distributed in an Al-alloy matrix. The surface rendering based visualization technique clearly reveals the differences in the spatial clustering of the SiC particles in these microstructures. Further, the method is also useful for visualization of particle-rich bands and chains of connected SiC particles.