Missing information and data fidelity in digital microstructure acquisition

Abstract Measuring and modeling microstructure is crucial for establishing structure-property relations. Here the digitized format of the microstructure plays an increasingly vital role in modern material design and advanced manufacturing of functional materials. However, one basic issue facing digital acquisition of microstructures has attracted little attention, namely the loss of information in the first steps of data gathering and processing. The missing information leads to serious issues in a range of topics from reconstruction of microstructures to prediction of material properties. To bring forth and quantify these issues, we develope an analytical method and a new numerical simulation scheme using Laguerre-Voronoi tessellation and Xu-Li microstructure characterization method. We then define and quantify the missing information and its impact rigorously.