Modeling anisotropic multiphase heterogeneous materials via directional correlation functions: Simulations and experimental verification

The effective properties of heterogeneous materials critically depend on their complex microstructure. In this article, by successfully reconstructing the threedimensional microstructure of a multiphase alloy with orientated anisotropic inclusions from two-dimensional slices, we show that such materials can be modeled by the two-point correlation functions of the inclusion phases along the three orthogonal characteristic directions of the inclusions. The reconstructions are compared to the actual microstructure obtained from high-resolution X-ray tomography experiments by quantifying certain directional cluster statistics associated with the microstructures.