Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)
Deformation twins in Zirconium deformed in uniaxial tension
J. F. Bingert, T. A. Mason, G. C. Kaschner, P. J. Maudlin and G. T. Gray, III (2002). "Deformation Twinning in Polycrystalline Zr: Insights from Electron Backscattered Diffraction Characterization." Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A 33: 955-963.
IQ map of partially recrystallized Zr. The top map (at left) shows the deformed grains and corresponding texture and the bottom – the recrystallized material. The pattern is from Zr as well as a contribution from the overlying zirconium oxide.
Zirconium Oxide collected at 650 indexed points per second
A coherent and an incoherent twin in zirconium
EBSD map of Zircaloy tube. Hydrides appear dark in the map – a few are highlighted.
Wavelength Dispersive Spectrometry (WDS)
Zirconium Niobium
High temperature alloys contain various refractory elements for enhanced properties. Many of these elements will be in low concentrations so the X-ray peak contribution may be quite small. Low beam energy analyses cause additional difficulties by requiring the use of higher order X-ray lines containing many peaks, all of which can overlap with other elemental peaks. The EDS spectrum (green) of a Zr alloy shows only the expected asymmetry of the primary Zr-La peak but no distinct contribution of other elemental X-rays. The WDS spectrum (red), in contrast, shows a distinct contribution of a trace amount of Nb masked in the tail of the primary Zr-L X-rays.
Micro X-ray Fluorescence (Micro-XRF)
Granite Sample
Maximum Channel spectrum (red) versus Sum spectrum (blue). The Maximum Channel spectrum exposes trace phases in the granite sample.