Texture analysis using angle dispersive neutron nuclear scattering

This paper describes in detail the method of texture determination using neutron diffraction. The main advantages of neutron diffraction arise from the high penetration depth for most materials which is a factor of 102-104 higher than for X-ray diffraction. Consequently neutron diffraction is an efficient tool for the investigation of global textures and coarse grained materials. Moreover, the measurement of large sample volumes gives excellent grain statistics, allows the influence of texture inhomogeneities to be neglected and allows the measurement of complete pole figures even of minority phases. A number of examples show the application of neutron diffraction to measure textures of metals, alloys, composites, intermetallic compounds and rocks. A detailed description of TEX-2 the neutron texture diffractometer at GKSS Research Centre is given which is completed by a comparison to other neutron texture diffractometers. (orig.)