Reconstruction of heterogeneous materials via stochastic optimization of limited-angle X-ray tomographic projections

X-ray tomography has provided a non-destructive means for microstructure characterization in three and four dimensions. A stochastic procedure to accurately reconstruct material microstructure from limited-angle X-ray tomographic projections is presented and its utility is demonstrated by reconstructing a variety of distinct heterogeneous materials and elucidating the information content of different projection data sets. A small number of projections (e.g. 20–40) are necessary for accurate reconstructions via the stochastic procedure, indicating its high efficiency in using limited structural information.