Choice of scalar measure for crystal curvature to image dislocation substructure in terms of discrete orientation data

Abstract

Starting from Nye’s tensor, alternative characteristics of crystal curvature indicative of dislocation content are considered subject to very low thickness of investigated matter under the free surface and discreteness of orientation sampling. Analysis within the framework of continuum mechanics, undertaken to allow for such conditions peculiar to the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique, has shown the variable part of orientations expressed in a vector form to be most sensitive to lattice defects when projected to the free surface plane. Hence, as verified with EBSD data on a grain junction in a low deformed IF steel, magnitude of the projected field allows one to map plastic strains inhomogeneous within grains whereas divergence of this field distinctly images and quantifies low-angle dislocation boundaries formed at low strains.

Keywords

• compatibility
• discrete gradient
• dislocation boundaries
• dislocation structure
• ebsd