Correlation functions for predicting properties of heterogeneous materials. I. Experimental measurement of spatial correlation functions in multiphase solids

Abstract

Recent interest in the use of statistical continum theories to predict the properties of heterogeneous materials has created a need for experimentally measured spatial correlation functions related to the geometries of microscopic phases. This paper describes an experimental method for the measurement of such spatial correlation functions. The method consists of taking microphotographs of material cross sections and generating statistical data from the microphotographs. The data developed may be used to construct correlation functions of any order. Statistical checks on the quality of the data are also presented.