Digital Representation and Quantification of Discrete Dislocation Structures

Discrete dislocation structures and their evolution are known to control the mechanical properties of metal samples. However, the lack of computationally efficient and statistically rigorous descriptors for such defect systems has hindered the development and adoption of rational protocols for the optimal design of these material systems. This study presents a framework for the rigorous statistical quantification and low-dimensional representation of dislocation structures using the formalism of 2-point statistics (also called 2-point spatial correlations) along with principal component analysis. The usefulness of this basic framework for comparing and observing dislocation structures is exemplified and discussed with suitable examples.