3D EBSD Research Articles

Elementary Facet Method for Grain Boundary Plane Determination by 3D EBSD

A new method, the elementary facet method for the grain boundary (GB) orientation measurement using three dimensional EBSD data obtained from serial sectioned sample surfaces, has been applied to a nickel superalloy sample. The principles of this method are described and a part of results obtained are given.

A review of crystallographic textures in chemical vapor-deposited diamond films

Diamond is one of the most important functional materials for film applications due to its extreme physical and mechanical properties, many of which depend on the crystallographic texture. The influence of various deposition parameters matters to the texture formation and evolution during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of diamond films. In this overview, the texture evolutions are presented in terms of both simulations and experimental observations. The crystallographic textures in diamond are simulated based on the van der Drift growth selection mechanism. The film morphology and textures associated with the growth parameters α (proportional to the ratio of the growth rate along the 〈100〉 direction to that along the 〈111〉 direction) are presented and determined by applying the fastest growth directions. Thick films with variations in substrate temperature, methane concentration, film thickness, and nitrogen addition were analyzed using high-resolution electron back-scattering diffraction (HR-EBSD) as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the fraction variations of fiber textures with these deposition parameters were explained. In conjunction with the focused ion beam (FIB) technique for specimen preparation, the grain orientations in the beginning nucleation zones were studied using HR-EBSD (50 nm step size) in another two sets of thin films deposited with variations in methane concentration and substrate material. The microstructures, textures, and grain boundary character were characterized. Based on the combination of an FIB unit for serial sectioning and HR-EBSD, diamond growth dynamics was observed using a 3D EBSD technique, with which individual diamond grains were investigated in 3D. Microscopic defects were observed in the vicinity of the high-angle grain boundaries by using the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, and the advances of TEM orientation microscopy make it possible to identify the grain orientations in nano-crystalline diamond.

A 3D EBSD Investigation of Dynamic Recrystallisation in a Cu-Sn Bronze

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2009 in Richmond, Virginia, USA, July 26 – July 30, 2009

A 3D tomographic EBSD analysis of a CVD diamond thin film

We have studied the nucleation and growth processes in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond film using a tomographic electron backscattering diffraction method (3D EBSD). The approach is based on the combination of a focused ion beam (FIB) unit for serial sectioning in conjunction with high-resolution EBSD. Individual diamond grains were investigated in 3-dimensions particularly with regard to the role of twinning.

Recent Progress in the 3D Experimentation and Simulation of Nanoindents

This work studies the rotations of a (111) Cu single crystal due to the application of a conical nanoindent. With the aid of a joint high-resolution field emission SEM-EBSD set-up coupled with serial sectioning in a focused ion beam (FIB) system in the form of a cross-beam 3D crystal orientation microscope (3D EBSD) a 3D rotation map underneath the indent could be extracted. When analyzing the rotation directions in the cross section planes (11-2) perpendicular to the (111) surface plane below the indenter tip we observe multiple transition regimes with steep orientation gradients and changes in rotation direction. A phenomenological and a physically-based 3D elastic-viscoplastic crystal plasticity model are implemented in two finite element simulations adopting the geometry and boundary conditions of the experiment. While the phenomenological model predicts the general rotation trend it fails to describe the fine details of the rotation patterning with the frequent changes in sign observed in the experiment. The physically-based model, which is a dislocation density based constitutive model, succeeded to precisely predict the crystal rotation map compared with the experiment. Both simulations over-emphasize the magnitude of the rotation field near the indenter relative to that measured directly below the indenter tip. However, out of the two models the physically-based model reveals better crystal rotation angles