Pattern recognition with machine learning on optical microscopy images of typical metallurgical microstructures

For advanced materials characterization, a novel and extremely effective approach of pattern recognition in optical microscopic images of steels is demonstrated. It is based on fast Random Forest statistical algorithm of machine learning for reliable and automated segmentation of typical steel microstructures. Their percentage and location areas excellently agreed between machine learning and manual examination results. The accurate microstructure pattern recognition/segmentation technique in combination with other suitable mathematical methods of image processing and analysis can help to handle the large volumes of image data in a short time for quality control and for the quest of new steels with desirable properties.