APPLICATIONS OF ELECTRON BACKSCATTERED DIFFRACTION TO STUDIES OF ANNEALING OF DEFORMED METALS

The applicability of electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) to stud ies of thermomechanical processing is outline and its relationship to other microtexture methods is discussed. Applications of the technique are grouped into three types. First, the measurement of orientation/m isorientation of large numbers of crystallites enable the orientation gradients and misorientation distributions to be measured. Second, EBS D at specific microstructural heterogeneities enables detailed informa tion to be obtained about annealing mechanisms. Third, EBSD in conjunc tion with in situ scanning electron microscope annealing is shown to b e a powerful technique for studying boundary mobilities and the develo pment of microstructure.