Measurement of crystal misorientation distribution by electron backscatter diffraction

It is well known stress corrosion cracking in stainless steel and nickel based alloy is enhanced by plastic strain induced in the material, although the reason why has not been fully understood. Since stress corrosion cracking begins from small crack initiation and its growth, it is important to know the inhomogeneous distribution of plastic strain. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) enables us to measure crystal orientations on specimen surface with a spatial resolution of nano-meter order. The magnitude of local plastic strain can be estimated from change in crystal orientation (misorientation) obtained. In this study, distributions of the misorientation were evaluated by using EBSD. A tensile specimen made of pure copper was subjected to tensile test to introduce plastic strain. From changes in surface images of the specimen during the test, distribution of plastic strain was identified by using the image correlation technique and was compared with distribution of misorientation obtained by EBSD measurement. It was revealed that the misorientation correlates well with dislocation density introduced by deformation rather than with local plastic strain. A data processing technique for improving accuracy of measured data of crystal orientation was developed and was successfully applied to obtain distributions of misorientation. The improved misorientation map showed that the misorientation tended to concentrate at grain boundaries. Influence of setting parameters in the new processing technique was investigated. Also, other techniques for improving a quality of distribution map were discussed. Finally, a procedure was shown for getting qualified misorientation distribution. (author)