ORIENTATION IMAGING MICROSCOPY OF ALPHA-ALUMINA - SAMPLE PREPARATION AND TEXTURE ANALYSIS

Orientation imaging microscopy (OIM) was used to study hot isostatical ly pressed (HIP) 99.99 % alpha-Al2O3. A Sample preparation procedure f or nonconducting ceramics and a preliminary texture analysis are given . The sample preparation procedure was optimized to produce a thin con ductive coating, a smooth well polished and at the same time nearly st rain free surface. In these alumina samples, the grain area ranged fro m 350 to 4000 mu m(2). Several grains exhibited a [0001] orientation w ith misorientation angles between two adjacent grains near 60 degrees. From contour inverse pole figures, a slight texture, two times random , was determined along the sample ''rolling direction'' [100] which co rresponded to the extrusion direction of the green body.