Explainable deep learning framework for binary corrosion image classification using Grad-CAM

Corrosion in metallic materials is a critical challenge in maintenance and safety, and traditional visual inspection methods are often time-consuming, labor-intensive, and dependent on human expertise, highlighting the need for more efficient and reliable solutions. Deep learning, particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs), provides a promising approach by enabling automated and accurate image-based classification. This study investigates binary image classification of corrosion using four pre-trained CNN architectures, namely ResNet50, MobileNetV2, NASNetMobile, and EfficientNetV2B0, and integrates explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques to provide interpretability and insight into each model’s decision-making process. A curated dataset of 4012 images, divided between corroded and non-corroded surfaces, was pre-processed, and augmented images resulted in a total of 9636 images used to train and evaluate the models. Performance was assessed through accuracy, confusion matrices, computational timing, receiver operating characteristic curves, precision–recall curves, and Cohen’s Kappa. In this paper, Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) visualizations are incorporated as an XAI technique to provide interpretable insight into the model’s reasoning process, enabling clear identification of corrosion regions and offering justification for each prediction produced by the system. A key contribution of this work is the integration of Grad-CAM to enhance explainability. The results showed that EfficientNetV2B0 demonstrates stable training with minimal sign overfitting compared to other models. MobileNetV2 achieved the lowest time to train with the datasets given, and ResNet50 achieved the highest classification performance in terms of confusion matrix, with an accuracy of 96.58%. Through Grad-CAM reasoning, EfficientNetV2B0 shows a specific high activation towards corroded regions compared to the other three models that were evaluated.

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