Abstract
Texture is the orientation distribution of crystallites in polycrystalline materials. Since most of the physical properties of crystals are anisotropic, their macroscopic mean values are mainly controlled by the texture. Hence, property control of technological materials requires texture control. Textures are being formed in materials by all kinds of solid state processes such as primary crystallization, plastic deformation, recrystallization, and phase transformation. This is the basis for technological ‘texture tailoring’, but it also provides a sensitive tool for studying these processes themselves. Furthermore, texture can be used as an ‘internal documentation’ which can answer questions of the materials history as for instance in geology. Texture measurements are mainly done by X-ray diffraction, but neutron and electron diffraction, as well as other methods may be used. The experimentally measured ‘pole figures’ are converted mathematically into orientation distribution functions (ODFs) which are functions of three variables. This is called three-dimensional texture analysis.
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