Tracking: a method for structural characterization of grains in powders orpolycrystals

A method is presented for fast and non-destructive characterization of the individual grains inside bulk materials (powders or polycrystals). The posi tions, volumes and orientations of hundreds of grains are determined simult aneously. An extension of the rotation method is employed: a monochromatic beam of high-energy X-rays, focused in one dimension, impinges on the sampl e and the directions of the diffracted beams are traced by translation of t wo-dimensional detectors. Algorithms suitable for on-line analysis are desc ribed, including a novel indexing approach, where the crystal symmetry is u sed directly by scanning in Euler space. The method is verified with a simu lation of 100 grains.