text: Microstructure generation is also known as stochastic microstructure reconstruction.
  Computer-simulated microstructures are generated to replicate the microstructural features of actual microstructures. Such microstructures are referred to as synthetic microstructures. Synthetic microstructures are used to investigate what microstructural feature is important for a given property. To ensure statistical equivalence between generated  and actual microstructures, microstructures are modified after generation to match the statistics of an actual microstructure. Such procedure enables generation of theoretically infinite number of computer simulated microstructures that are statistically the same (have the same statistics) but stochastically different (have different configurations).