Diffraction artefacts from twins and stacking faults, and the mirage of hexagonal, polytypes or other superstructures

Abstract

Recently, a hexagonal phase has been reported in high carbon steels in several studies. Here, we show that the electron microscopy results used in these studies were erroneously interpreted. The extra-spots in the diffraction patterns and the odd contrasts in the high resolution images are not those a superstructure but result from double diffraction and streaking effects due to the presence of twins and stacking faults. We point out a similar unfortunate misunderstanding of these effects in papers reporting the existence of a 9R structure in aluminium or copper, or exotic forms of carbon in diamonds.