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Size Distribution View

The Size Distribution view displays the particle results for the selected standard. You can filter the results by approval status, particle type or particle size class.

In the Image Gallery, all particles are displayed from 5 µm length and width onwards. As a Supervisor, you can change the minimum size of the displayed particles in the Region Filter tool in the Region Filter workbench. By default, the Region Filter workbench is set to run silent, see Region Filter.

For individually created job templates it is recommended to display only standards with the same smallest particle size in the Standard Selection tool and adapted the Region Filter tool accordingly.

1

Class Chart

Displays the number of particles sorted in size classes and particle types according to their size in µm. You can filter by particle type and by approval status. Further tables are available to inform you about the test results in respect of length and width classes.

See

2

Scatter Plot

Displays the particle values for length versus width. You can filter by particle type and by approval status. See Scatter Plot.

3

Particle Button bar

Filters artifacts or particles by type. You can view all particles clicking the All button. See Particle Button Bar and Filtering Particles.

4

Image Gallery

Displays all detected particles. Default: Minimized view. The Mid-Sized view shows the particle images with an enlarged zoom level. See TCA Image Gallery.

Class Chart - Diagram

This diagram displays the particle size distribution and the approval status by particle type. The capital letters at the x-axis are representative for the particle size classes according to ISO 16232 and VDA 19.1.

The bars are either displayed in green or red color corresponding to the approval status OK or NOK. The coloring and the corresponding approval status are dependent on the acceptance criteria as defined in the Standard Template. If no approval is defined, the bars are represented in gray color.

Click the Filter NOK Button to show only those particles in the Image Gallery that exceed the limits as defined by the acceptance criteria.

Click one or more bar(s) in the diagram to filter the Image Gallery accordingly.

Class Chart - Length Class Table

This table displays the particle size distribution by particle type. The default length classification parameter is Feret Max.

The displayed particle size classification table shows the following information:

  • The absolute and/or normalized particle counts, according to the selection in the Displayed Normalization tool.
  • The Allowed Number of Particles as defined in the standard template.
  • The corresponding cleanliness level as defined in the standard.
  • The Total Fiber Length sums up the fiber length values.
  • The approval result (OK/NOK).

The table is saved to the archive and is shown in the report.

Note that there is no interaction with the Image Gallery.

Class Chart - Width Class Table

This table displays the particle size distribution by particle type. The default width classification parameter is Feret Min.

The displayed particle size classification table shows the following information:

  • The absolute and/or normalized particle counts, according to the selection in the Displayed Normalization tool.
  • The allowed number of particles as defined in the standard template.
  • The corresponding cleanliness level as defined in the standard.
  • The approval result (OK/NOK).

The table is saved to the archive and is shown in the report.

Note that there is no interaction with the Image Gallery.

Particle Button Bar

In the Particle Button Bar, you filter artifacts and particles per type to synchronize the Image Gallery in parallel. You can view all particles by clicking the All button.

If you filter the Image Gallery via the bar diagram or the scatter plot, a description of the applied filter(s) is shown above the Image Gallery. You can use the filter description to remove applied filters selectively.

Particle types for component cleanliness

  • Metallic-shiny (M)
  • Non-shiny (N)
  • Fiber (F)
  • Artifacts (A)

Particle types for oil cleanliness

  • Particle (P)
  • Fiber (F)
  • Artifacts (A)

Parameter

Description

Show Annotations

Surrounds and displays the shape of the particle with a red line.

Show Scaling

Displays the size of the particle based on the scaling factor.

Drop-down menu

Changes the sorting in the image gallery by particle length, width, area and ID. The default sorting order is descending for size: length, area, width, and ascending for the particle ID.

Filtering Particles

In the Size Distribution view, various methods are available for filtering particles to enable rapid particle inspection.

Filtering by particle size class

  1. You are in the Size Distribution view.
  1. Click on one or more bar(s) in the Class Chart diagram tab.
  2. The images displayed in the Image Gallery are filtered according to the selected data.
  1. The filter buttons in the Particle Button bar above the Image Gallery are replaced by the filter description, e.g. Class Chart Filter: B Non-shiny.

Filtering by acceptance criteria

You can obtain a rapid overview on potentially critical particles by filtering over the approval status NOK.

  1. You have defined acceptance criteria in the Standard Template to display OK or NOK in the Size Distribution view. For more information, see Standard Template Editor.
  2. You are in the Size Distribution view.
  1. In the Class Chart diagram, click on the toggle button to switch between the approval status NOK or OK.
  2. The Class Chart diagram and the Image Gallery are adapted.
  3. The filter buttons in the Particle Button bar above the Image Gallery are replaced by the filter description, e.g. NOK Filter active.
  4. In the Scatter Plot, click the toggle button to switch between OK and NOK.
  5. The Scatter Plot and the Image Gallery are updated.
  6. The filter buttons in the Particle Button Bar above the Image Gallery are replaced by the filter description, e.g. NOK Filter Active.

Filtering by particle type

You can filter your results by particle types.

  1. You are in the Size Distribution view.
  1. In the Particle Button bar above the Image Gallery, click the particle type button you want to filter the Image Gallery by.
  2. The Image Gallery and the Class Chart diagram are adapted.

Changing Particle Type

In the Size Distribution view, you can check and, if necessary, change the results of the particle typification. Optionally, you can click the Opens the Edit View icon on the gallery image to open the Edit view and change the type there.

  1. You run TCA either with image files or you acquire the images within the workflow.
  2. You are in the Size Distribution view.
  1. In the Image Gallery each particle is displayed in a picture frame containing particle information and interactive elements:

    On top of the picture frame, the following information about the particle is displayed: Length, Width, Area, and the type of the particle, e.g. metallic-shiny (M).
    Hover with your mouse over the picture frame of the particle of interest.
  2. On the bottom, the icon bar M, N, F, and A is displayed to enable changing the particle type.
  3. To display additional information, hover with your mouse over the image.
  4. The particle image is shown zoomed out, the particle ID and X and Y particle coordinates are displayed on top of the zoomed out image.
  5. In the Image Gallery, in the image, click the desired icon on the bottom to change the particle type or revise an object as artifact. Repeat this step if needed.
  6. The gallery image is marked by a red dot on the top left side to indicate a planned change of the particle type.
  7. Click Apply.
  8. The red dot disappears, the image gallery is updated, and the statistics is recalculated accordingly. This also happens, when you click Next to proceed.
  1. You have changed the particle type.

Editing Particle Analysis Results in the Particle Edit View

You can display sections of the original tile images instead of a thumbnail image in 2D view and edit them. In case the quality of the result is not satisfactory because for instance adjacent particles touch each other, you edit the analysis result. In the Image Gallery, you use the arrow key to scroll through the particle images, to update the Edit View.

The Edit View is available with or without the option to inspect and retrieve particles in live mode, see Configuring the TCA Job Template by Switching the Active Branch.

If your color camera is Axiocam 705c, the default setting for live speed should be changed.

  1. In the Extended Camera tool > Mode section > Live Speed drop down list, select High Res.

    See Extended Camera Tool.
  2. The live zoom factor for Axiocam 705c and Axiocam 705pol is aligned.
  1. You are in the Size Distribution view.
  1. In the Image Gallery, hover the mouse over the picture frame of a gallery image.
  2. The Opens the Particle Edit View icon in the upper right side of the picture frame is displayed.
  3. Click the icon.
  4. The Edit View appears and the tile image section with the selected particle is displayed in the left window of the center area. The Live mode is displayed in the right window of the center area and shows the selected particle centered. The Edit View with camera in Live mode is the default setting.
    Use the particle gallery at the bottom to navigate between the particles and inspect them in the live mode of the two cameras. With the Axiocam 705 pol you can switch between the different polarization orientations. With the color camera you get additional color information of the selected particle.


  6. If you open the Edit View without camera Live mode, the following view is displayed.
  7. The selected particle is displayed with a green frame.
  8. With the Edit Regions tool, edit the selected particle. For more information, see Interactive Segmentation.
    You have the following options:
    - Draw button: Adds the area drawn as a new object which extends an existing object.
    - Erase button: Removes the area drawn from an existing object.
    - Cut button: Splits an object into multiple objects along the line drawn.
    - Connect button: If the area drawn overlaps an existing object, the area and object are joined into a single object.
    - Remove button: Removes the selected object.
    Note: Keep the middle mouse button pressed and drag the mouse to move the image in the view.
  9. For Component Cleanliness workflows: Under Choose Camera, you can select between the Axiocam 705pol and a color camera (Axiocam 705c or Axiocam 305c). The color camera is useful to identify the origin of certain particle classes (colored fibers, different metals and plastics) and to add color images to the report.
  10. For Component Cleanliness workflows: Under Software AF, click Find Focus to start the autofocus search to determine the optimal focus.
    Under Exposure Time, click Auto to apply the exposure time automatically or click Manual, the set the exposure time manually by means of the slider or the spin box.
  11. For Component Cleanliness workflows with Axiocam 705pol: Under Camera Control: Under Live Polarization, select the desired polarization orientation channel (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°).
  12. For Component Cleanliness workflows with a color camera, under White Balance you can adjust the white balance. You have the following options:
    - Auto: Selects the reference point for the white balance correction automatically and adjusts the hue of all other pixels accordingly.
    - Pick: Enables you to specify the reference point for white balance correction manually. The hue of all other pixels is adjusted accordingly.
    - Reset: Resets any other color changes and sets the white balance to 6500 K.
  13. For Component Cleanliness workflows with a color camera, under Offset Correction, you can correct the offset between the two cameras. By default, the option Use Offset Correction is activated.
    Select the camera on which the offset occurs and press Determine Offset. In Live View, select a particle and click on it. The stage moves to the particle and the offset is corrected for all images. See Correcting Camera Offset.
  14. For Component Cleanliness (loaded image): To see better if a very dark metallic particle is metallic shiny or not, with the Configured Polarization Channels switch, you can switch between different polarization orientations. The pre-configured channels of the image are displayed.
  15. Click Apply Changes to save after all desired revision steps are finalized. Note that editing of particles requires a confirmation by Apply of Changes before particle types can be changed in the Edit View.
  16. The edited particle is displayed with the applied revisions steps.
  17. To save and leave the Edit View, click OK.
  18. The segmentation annotation is updated and the revised particle shown in the Image Gallery of the Size Distribution view.
  19. The particle results, classification data and statistics are updated accordingly.
  20. The revised particle gets a new Particle ID, which is represented by the largest number in the Particle Result table.

Particle Selection for EDS Analysis

For EDS analysis you preselect particles, and the coordinates of these particles are saved for later EM/EDS analysis after execution of the correlative LM job template. The EDS particle selection list is loaded in Free Mode via the S&F Find (List) tool in ZEN core, to continue the correlative workflow with the EM.

See Concept of S&F with TCA

You have the following options for particle selection:

  • Automatically configured in the Standard Template Editor, see Defining Length and Width Classes (Workbench Area).
  • Additionally, within the workflow: In the Size Distribution (Live) view, you can manually mark or unmark desired particles in the Particle Gallery.

If desired you can use both selection methods in combination or only one of them. Independent of the used selection method, all particle coordinates are saved into one file.

Marking Particles for EDS Analysis Automatically

  1. Select Standard Template Editor > Define Class step > activate Enable EDS Selection.
  2. An additional column for particles per size class to be marked for EM/EDS measurement is displayed.
  3. The automated selection of particles for EDS analysis is activated.
  4. By default the coordinates of the particles are stored to the archive in the file Particle Selection EDS.
  5. As option the particle coordinates are exported in addition to a predefined file path on your computer, see EDX File Export Tool.
  6. Add the modified standard template to the correlative LM job template.

Particle Height Measurement

For measuring the height of particles, you select the particles and perform interactive measurement in the Particle Height Measurement view. The marked particles are saved in a table and stored in the archive. The report displays the three largest particles per type independent of the particle selection for height measurement. If a height measurement was conducted for these particles, the report shows the values for particle height in addition to length and width.

You have the following options for particle selection:

  • In advance: By configuration in the Standard Template Editor.
  • Additionally, within the workflow: In the Size Distribution (Live) view, you can manually mark or unmark desired particles in the Particle Gallery.
  • If desired, you can use both selection methods in combination or only one of them. Independent of the used selection method all particles are saved into one file.

Marking Particles for Height Measurement Automatically

  1. Select Standard Template Editor > Define Length Classes step > activate Automatic Particle Height Measurement.
  2. Two additional columns for particle height measurement are displayed per size class: one for metallic-shiny and the second for non shiny particles.
  3. Activate the desired particle size classes for height measurement.
  4. The automated selection of particles for interactive height measurement in the workflow is activated.

Marking Particles for Height Measurement Manually

Even though you have configured the automatical marking of particles for height measurement, you can add desired particles or remove them from the height measurement selection list.

  1. You are in Size Distribution (Live) view.
  1. In the Image Gallery, in the desired image, click
    .
  1. The particle is selected for height measurement. A second mouse click on this icon removes this particle from the height measurement selection list.

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