Accurate determination of grain properties using three-dimensional synchrotron X-ray diffraction: A comparison with EBSD

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The characterization of elastic strain and stress at the grain level is becoming an important route for validating meso- and nano-scale numerical models. The response of a grain to a mechanical load depends not only on the elastic and plastic properties of the single crystal, but also on the interaction of the grain with its local neighborhood. In this paper, an in-situ three-dimensional synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiment is conducted on a polycrystalline zirconium specimen. The data obtained from the experiment are used to develop methods to reconstruct three-dimensional grain maps by adding the grain layers measured by a planar X-ray beam, and to track individual grains across loading steps. The measured center-of-the-mass and volume of each grain are subsequently used to reconstruct 3D grain boundaries using the weighted Voronoi technique, and to determine grain neighborhoods. The results from the developed post-processing methods are compared against those measured using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique. It is shown that with the use of the developed methods, both small and big grains are accurately determined with 3D-XRD. It is further shown that the accuracy of the implemented Voronoi technique in determining the right grain neighborhood is more than 80%.