Abstract Scope |
Clustering algorithms, such as DBSCAN, OPTICS, and maximum separation serve as the basis for microstructural feature identification from Atom Probe Tomography (APT) point clouds. While meta-heuristics exist for identification of ideal hyperparameters for these algorithms APT data routinely violates their operational assumptions, due to high solute densities within the matrix, non-convex features, and the presence of features of differing length scales and shapes, such as grain boundaries and precipitates, within one dataset. In this work, we demonstrate that a modification of Monte Carlo reference-based consensus clustering (M3C) for DBSCAN referred to as Density-based Monte Carlo Consensus Clustering (DMC3) identifies near optimal, as measured by adjusted mutual information, epsilon parameters for a given order parameter over a wide range of feature sizes, and solute concentrations. This new method provides an improved approach for reproducible and more objective analyses of clustering behavior within APT data. |