Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)
EBSD can be used to identify different carbides.
Heat resisting alloys are strengthened by a number of different precipitate phases such as carbide and intermetallic phases, and their stability at high temperatures is essential to alloy design. EBSD pattern analysis combined with EDS measurements of the approximate composition allows a highly efficient phase identification. The backscattered electron image is of an Fe-26Al-5Cr-1.5Mo-1.0C (at%) alloy. Three kinds of carbide phases were identified, M6C (bright & coarse), M7C3 (grey & needle shaped) and M2C (bright & fine). M identifies a phase-dependent mix of Cr, Mo and Fe.
S. Kobayashi, S. Zaefferer, A. Schneider, D. Raabe, G. Frommeyer. “Optimisation of precipitation for controlling recrystallisation of wrought Fe3Al based alloys” Intermetallics 13 (2005), 1296-1303.
EBSD is an ideal tool for measuring grain size, orientations and plastic strain in polycrystalline diamond.
Diamond Film
Three calcium carbonate polymorphs in Unio Pictorum (Painter's Mussel) shell
- Map collected with a Hikari Super EBSD Analysis System with TEAM™ EBSD software
- Shown: Phase and IPF maps on Image Quality (left) and PRIAS™ center map showing orientation contrast (top)
- CaCO3 typically occurs in two polymorphs: calcite and aragonite
- Occasionally a 3rd polymorph can be observed, vaterite, which may for example form as initial mineral deposit in shells to repair damage
- Vaterite is a metastable phase, which is highly susceptible to beam damage and requires a gentle electron beam for successful analysis
Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS)
A SiC sample with a thin Carbon ribbon-like structure layered into the matrix. This C layer can be very difficult to measure, both due to its extreme thinness and the difficulty in generating and collecting the low energy C X-rays. However, when analyzed under ideal conditions, TEAM™ EDS with Octane SDDs can clearly resolve sub-50 nm thickness.