Electron Backscatter Diffraction - Orientation Mapping

Orientation Mapping

EBSD can be used to find the crystal orientation of the material located within the incident electron beam's interaction volume. Thus by scanning the electron beam in a prescribed fashion (typically in a square or hexagonal grid, correcting for the image foreshortening due to the sample tilt) results in many maps.

These maps can spatially describe the crystal orientation of the material being interrogated and can be used to examine microtexture and sample morphology. Some of these maps describe grain orientation, grain boundary, diffraction pattern (image) quality. Various statistical tools can be used to measure the average misorientation, grain size, and crystallographic texture. From this dataset numerous maps, charts and plots can be generated.

From orientation data, a wealth of information can be devised that aids in the understanding of the samples microstructure and processing history. Recent developments include understanding: the prior texture of parent phases at elevated temperature; the storage and residual deformation after mechanical testing; the population of various microstructural features, including precipitates and grain boundary character.