STAR: Visual Computing in Materials Science

Abstract

Visual computing has become highly attractive for boosting research endeavors in the materials science domain. Using visual computing, a multitude of different phenomena may now be studied, at various scales, dimensions, or using different modalities. This was simply impossible before. Visual computing techniques provide novel insights in order to understand complex material systems of interest, which is demonstrated by strongly rising number of new approaches, publishing new techniques for materials analysis and simulation. Outlining the proximity of materials science and visual computing, this state of the art report focuses on the intersection of both domains in order to guide research endeavors in this field. We provide a systematic survey on the close interrelations of both fields as well as how they profit from each other. Analyzing the existing body of literature, we review the domain of visual computing supported materials science, starting with the definition of materials science as well as material systems for which visual computing is frequently used. Major tasks for visual computing, visual analysis and visualization in materials sciences are identified, as well as simulation and testing techniques, which are providing the data for the respective analyses. We reviewed the input data characteristics and the direct and derived outputs, the visualization techniques and visual metaphors used, as well as the interactions and analysis workflows employed. All our findings are finally integrated in a cumulative matrix, giving insights about the different interrelations of both domains. We conclude our report with the identification of open high level and low level challenges for future research.

Visualization and Optimization Techniques for High Dimensional Parameter Spaces

“…In this section, we will discuss the existing techniques available for visualizing mixed multivariate datasets including both categorical and numerical attributes applied in related domains [36,98]. Besides visualization, there has been considerable research on the optimization algorithms for the high dimensional parameter spaces in the storage systems domain.…”

Visualization of Tensor Fields in Mechanics

“…In terms of surveys with a different focus but shared points of interest, there exists a report on topological visualization [HLH*16] that also touches on tensor field topology. A survey about visualization in material science [HS17] deals with a similar application area but does not focus on tensor fields. The most recent survey on the visualization of tensor fields by Bi et al [BYDS19] is restricted to streamline and glyph-based methods focusing on DTI data.…”

Modeling and Visualization of Multi-material Volumes

“…Once it becomes clear which material representation method to pursue, the rendering approach naturally must follow. Materials may be reproduced in realistic or functional manners, usually through the application of measured real-world samples [HS17]. However, a HOM system may be used to define unusual composites which could be difficult to reproduce in the real world, or for which there is limited material information.…”