An effective image-analysis system for use in the study of particulate mineralogical material is described. The available commercial image-processing and image-analysis software systems do not usually include adequate algorithms for the effective analysis of multiphase mineralogical textures. Filtering algorithms are usually inadequate for the accurate removal of image noise without compromising the integrity of phase edges. Although most systems offer good algorithms for the analysis of binary images, algorithms for ternary and higher order images are almost non-existent and these are essential for the analysis of mineralogical material in the particulate state. Existing systems make no provision for effective stereological analysis of image data nor for the interpretation of microstructure using models based on stochastic and integral geometry.
This paper describes the development of an image analysis system based on an SEM equipped with secondary electron and back-scattered electron detectors, an image memory for the storage of digital images captured at slow scan speeds and a SUN workstation for image processing and image analysis. The algorithms and procedures described include a full range of linear-intercept analysis routines used in quantitative mineralogy.