Electron Back Scattered Diffraction : Current State, Prospects and Comparison with X-Ray Diffraction Texture Measurement

Within the past decade Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) has experienced wide acceptance in metallurgical and geological labs. It is a Kikuchi diffraction device based on the SEM that enables individual grain orientations, local texture, point-to-point orientation correlations, and phases to be determined routinely at a sub-grain size level on the surfaces of bulk polycrystals while exploiting the excellent imaging capabilities of the SEM. After a brief retrospective some aspects of modern automated EBSD systems are discussed with particular emphasis on pattern processing, high speed and recent developments, but also on difficulties a newcomer may experience. Pole figure measurement by X-ray diffraction (XRD) is still the standard technique for studying crystallographic texture on a global statistical scale. Finally EBSD is compared with XRD pole figure measurement.