MATBOX: Microstructure Analysis Toolbox

MATLAB open source microstructure analysis code embedded with a graphic user interface
v1.0b May 19, 2021
See release_notes.txt for a change log.
Next version (re-work of characterization module) is underway.

MATBOX's Publication

MATBOX has been published in an peer-reviewed journal article
F.L.E.Usseglio-Viretta, P.Patel, E.Bernhardt, A.Mistry, P.P.Mukherjee, J.Allen, S.J.Cooper, J.Laurencin, K.Smith, MATBOX: An Open-source Microstructure Analysis Toolbox for microstructure generation, segmentation, characterization, visualization, correlation, and meshing, SoftwareX, Volume 17, January 2022, 100915
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2021.100915

Official webpage

MATBOX has now its official webpage!
You can find it in the data and tools/energy storage/ section of the NREL transportation site at: https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/matbox.html
From the same author, you can also find a library of electrode microstructures (NMC/graphite) at: https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/microstructure.html

What is MATBOX?

MATBOX is a MATLAB application for performing various microstructure-related tasks including microstructure numerical generation, image filtering and microstructure segmentation, microstructure characterization, three-dimensional visualization, result correlation, and microstructure meshing.
MATBOX was originally developed to analyse electrode microstructures for lithium ion batteries; however, the algorithms provided by the toolbox are widely applicable to other heterogeneous materials.

How to?

The toolbox provides a user-friendly experience thanks to a Graphic-User Interface and requires no coding to be used. Installation and instructions are detailed in the documentation. Run src/Main_menu/Main_menu.mlapp to start the toolbox (mlapp extension corresponds to MATLAB app created with app designer) and choose the module relevant for your activity.

• MATBOX main menu and illustration of each module:

• The inputs for most modules are stack tiff files (which once imported in MATLAB are 3D arrays). MATBOX modules connectivity is illustrated below:

Authors

Contributions (excluding third-party software):

• Main developer and documentation writer: Francois Usseglio-Viretta (NREL)
• GUI co-development of the particle generation module: Prehit Patel (NREL)
• Contrast correction documentation/examples for adapthisteq in the ROI, filering and segmentation module: Elizabeth Bernhardt (NREL)
• Additive generation algorithm (energy-based method): Aashutosh Mistry (Argonne National Laboratory) and Partha P. Mukherjee (Purdue University)
• Meshing module code adapted for monolithic mesh: Jeffery Allen (NREL)
• Integration of TauFactor in the characterization module: Samuel J. Cooper (Imperial College London)
• Discussion on segmentation and characterization: Jerome Laurencin (CEA Grenoble, France)
• Discussion and alignment with DOE's objectives: Kandler Smith (NREL)

How to cite

If you produce results using the toolbox, or use some or parts of the algorithms contained within the toolbox, please quote them accordingly:

• For any results produced with the toolbox, please quote: F. L. E. Usseglio-Viretta et al., MATBOX: An Open-source Microstructure Analysis Toolbox for microstructure generation, segmentation, characterization, visualization, correlation, and meshing, SoftwareX, 17, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2021.100915
• If you are generating additive phase with the energy criterion method, then please also quote: A. N. Mistry, K. Smith, and P. P. Mukherjee, Secondary Phase Stochastics in Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10(7) pp. 6317-6326 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b17771
• If you are calculating tortuosity factor, then please also quote: S.J. Cooper, A. Bertei, P.R. Shearing, J.A. Kilner, and N.P. Brandon, TauFactor: An open-source application for calculating tortuosity factors from tomographic data, SoftwareX, Volume 5, 2016, Pages 203-210, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2016.09.002
• If you are generating unstructured meshes, then please also quote: Q. Fang and D. A. Boas, Tetrahedral Mesh Generation From Volumetric Binary and Gray-scale Images, Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging 2009, 2009, Pages 1142-1145, https://doi.org/10.1109/ISBI.2009.5193259

What's next?

• Re-work the characterization and correlation module.
• Tutorial videos.

How to contribute?

MATBOX already includes third-party open source algorithms (full list in documentation). If you wish to add algorithm(s) in MATBOX, please contact the author at [email protected] or let a message in the discussion section of this repository. All the same if you have suggestions, feedbacks, or want to report a bug.

Important notes

• I got some feedbacks from MAC users the GUI does not initialize well, while there is no issue for Windows Users. Therefore, currently Windows is recommended over other OS.
• Some modules built with app designer require MATLAB 2021a. A simple workaround is to open the mlapp file with app designer as it will automatically convert the file to your MATLAB version (but you may loss some functionnality).
• Matlab app designer does not have a consistent behavior from version to version about the GUI tab (left side of the interface). It may be truncated or not. If not truncated, it may truncate the right side of the GUI. If that happens to you, open the mlapp file with app designer and increase the width of the GUI (both the figure and the tab container). It should fix your issue.

License

This toolbox uses BSD license. NREL Software Record number SWR-20-76. License file is in this folder. Third-party licenses are available in the third-party licences folder.

Acknowledgments

This software was authored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding for algorithm development was provided by the U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office’s Computer-Aided Engineering of Batteries (CAEBAT) program (program manager Brian Cunningham). Application of the algorithm for fast-charge analysis was provided by the eXtreme Fast Charge Cell Evaluation of Lithium-Ion Batteries (XCEL) program (program manager Samuel Gillard).