Leveraging modified ex situ tomography data for segmentation of in situ synchrotron X‐ray computed tomography

In situ synchrotron X-ray computed tomography enables dynamic material studies. However, automated segmentation remains challenging due to complex imaging artefacts - like ring and cupping effects - and limited training data. We present a methodology for deep learning-based segmentation by transforming high-quality ex situ laboratory data to train models for segmentation of in situ synchrotron data, demonstrated through a metal oxide dissolution study. Using a modified SegFormer architecture, our approach achieves segmentation performance (94.7% IoU) that matches human inter-annotator reliability (94.6% IoU). This indicates the model has reached the practical upper bound for this task, while reducing processing time by 2 orders of magnitude per 3D dataset compared to manual segmentation. The method maintains robust performance over significant morphological changes during experiments, despite training only on static specimens. This methodology can be readily applied to diverse materials systems, enabling the efficient analysis of the large volumes of time-resolved tomographic data generated in typical in situ experiments across scientific disciplines.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Microscopy
Published
2025-09-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/jmi.70032
Primary Topic
Advanced X-ray and CT Imaging
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Leveraging modified ex situ tomography data for segmentation of in situ synchrotron X‐ray computed tomography

J.C. Spadotto, André Anders, Hugues Arcis, Brian J. Connolly et al.
Journal of Microscopy
Advanced X-ray and CT Imaging
article

Leveraging modified ex situ tomography data for segmentation of in situ synchrotron X‐ray computed tomography

J.C. Spadotto, André Anders, Hugues Arcis, Brian J. Connolly, Tristan Manchester, Hannah Eccleston, William Beavan
article en

Abstract

In situ synchrotron X-ray computed tomography enables dynamic material studies. However, automated segmentation remains challenging due to complex imaging artefacts - like ring and cupping effects - and limited training data. We present a methodology for deep learning-based segmentation by transforming high-quality ex situ laboratory data to train models for segmentation of in situ synchrotron data, demonstrated through a metal oxide dissolution study. Using a modified SegFormer architecture, our approach achieves segmentation performance (94.7% IoU) that matches human inter-annotator reliability (94.6% IoU). This indicates the model has reached the practical upper bound for this task, while reducing processing time by 2 orders of magnitude per 3D dataset compared to manual segmentation. The method maintains robust performance over significant morphological changes during experiments, despite training only on static specimens. This methodology can be readily applied to diverse materials systems, enabling the efficient analysis of the large volumes of time-resolved tomographic data generated in typical in situ experiments across scientific disciplines.

Journal of Microscopy
National Nuclear Laboratory (GB), University of Manchester (GB), Henry Royce Institute (GB), Reaction Engines (United Kingdom) (GB)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 77%
Advanced X-ray and CT Imaging
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