A Novel Machine Learning Approach for Surface Roughness Quantification and Optimization of Cast-On-Strap Lead-Antimony Alloy via Two-Point Correlation Function

Surface roughness has a negative impact on the materials’ lifetime. It accelerates pitting corrosion, increases effective heat transfer, and increases the rate of effective charge loss. However, controlled surface roughness is desirable in many applications. The automotive lead-acid battery is very sensitive to such effects. In our case study, the cast-on-strap machine has the largest effect on the surface roughness of the lead-antimony alloy. In this regard, statistical correlation functions are commonly used as statistical morphological descriptors for heterogeneous correlation functions. Two-point correlation functions are fruitful tools to quantify the microstructure of two-phase material structures. Herein, we demonstrate the use of the two-point correlation function to quantify surface roughness and optimize lead-antimony poles and straps used in the lead-acid battery as a solution to reduce their electrochemical corrosion when used in highly corrosive media. However, we infer that this method can be used in surface roughness mapping in a wide range of applications, such as pipes submerged in seawater as well as laser cutting. The possibility of using information obtained from the two-point correlation function and applying the simulated annealing procedure to optimize the surface micro-irregularities is investigated. The results showed successful surface representation and optimization that agree with the initially proposed hypothesis.