It is shown that the small-angle scattering of X-rays or neutrons by disloc
ations within a deformed metal, which are partially ordered into wall-like
structures, is characterized by several factors. Principally these are asso
ciated with: (i) a single dislocation or dipole; (ii) the dislocation confi
guration in the plane of the wall; and (iii) the distribution of dislocatio
ns across the wall thickness. With the assumption of isotropic elasticity,
small-angle scattering will be sensitive only to the edge components of the
dislocations. The scattered intensity is dominated by scattering from disl
ocations that lie perpendicular to the scattering vector, q, and reaches a
maximum when q is normal to the slip plane of these dislocations. Above a p
articular \q\, the scattered intensity is sensitive only to the total edge
dislocation content of the scattering dislocations (i.e, scattering is inco
herent), while, below this value, the scattering is dominated by how the di
slocations are distributed in walls. For walls normal to their slip planes,
the configuration factor will reflect the dislocation distribution in the
plane of the wall, while, for walls parallel to their slip planes, the dist
ribution in the thickness direction will be visible. Therefore, even though
a deformed material is composed of complicated dislocation structures, onl
y those segments conforming to these rather strict prescriptions will be si
ngled out for scattering, and, by adjusting the beam/slip system geometry,
many parameters of the microstructure can be determined experimentally.