Texture analysis of melt-spun Ni-Mn-Ga tapes by means of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)

A texture analysis is performed by means of the electron-backscatter diffraction technique (EBSD) on melt-spun ribbon-like samples of the composition Ni52.5Mn24.5Ga23 (at.-%) were prepared. A dedicated surface treatment is required in order to achieve high quality Kikuchi patterns. For this purpose, mechanical polishing plus ion polishing was employed. EBSD analysis and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the samples have a polycrystalline, granular morphology, with grain sizes around 1 - 2 μm. Several larger grains being present in the region selected for EBSD analysis, and many small grains are found, even embedded in the larger ones. The larger grains exhibit a common direction of elongation, yielding to a specific texture.