Decomposable multiphase entropic descriptor

Abstract

To quantify degree of spatial inhomogeneity for multiphase materials we adapt the entropic descriptor (ED) of a pillar model developed to greyscale images. To uncover the contribution of each phase we introduce the suitable 'phase splitting' of the adapted descriptor. As a result, each of the phase descriptors (PDs) describes the spatial inhomogeneity attributed to each phase-component. Obviously, their sum equals to the value of the overall spatial inhomogeneity. We apply this approach to three-phase synthetic patterns. The black and grey components are aggregated or clustered while the white phase is the background one. The examples show how the valuable microstuctural information related separately to each of the phases can be obtained at any integer length scale. Even dissimilar hidden statistical periodicities can be easily detected for chosen phases built-up of compact regular clusters.