Modern Diffraction Techniques for Measurements of Residual Strain and Texture

Three recently developed diffraction techniques are reviewed and their applications are discussed. The three techniques are: - the electron backscattering technique, whereby the crystallographic orientation of selected grains or areas down to-1.0 u m in diameter are determined in the scanning electron microscope; - the in-situ neutron texture technique, whereby the bulk texture and the texture transformation during annealing of typically 1 cm3 samples are determined by neutron diffraction; - the neutron diffraction residual strain technique, whereby the residual/internal strain are determined either in selected ≥ 1 mm3 volume elements of larger components or within the entire bulk of typically 1 cm3 samples. The experimental set-up and the data handling procedures are described for each of the three techniques, their potential is discussed and illustrated by various examples. 21 figs., 2 tabs