Symmetry-based automated extraction of microstructural features: Application to dendritic cores in single-crystal Ni-based superalloys

By exploiting the (prior) knowledge that certain microstructural features should, on average, have a certain symmetry, it was possible to develop an automated technique for identifying their locations within a complex microstructure. Subsequently, this technique is applied to a single-crystal Ni-based superalloy to identify dendrite core locations by using their fourfold symmetry as viewed along the 〈1 0 0〉 growth direction. Results of such a technique show good agreement with time-intensive manual identification of dendrite core locations.