Frantziskonis The quantitative characterizartion of microstructural constituents in an aluminum automotive alloy at various scales of observation is performed. Wavelet analysis of digitized image data is used to identify and examine the wavelet coefficients. The stress concentrations associated with microstructural features that initiate crack are determined by examining the energy of wavelet transforms. The heterogeneous features induced by fatigue cycles are also indentified using wavelet analysis. Such identification leads to information that suggests ways to modify processing and/or composition of the alloy for superior performance.***
