Semiautomatic determination of orientations and elastic strain from Kossel microdiffraction

The technique of divergent beam X-ray (Kossel) diffraction is being used for determination of local lattice orientations and lattice distortions (elastic strains). The Kossel patterns are recorded in a scanning electron microscope using a digital camera. The advancement in automation of the of the system relies on computerized interpretation of the Kossel patterns. The paper reports on a package of computer programs facilitating computation of orientations and the strain tensors from the geometry of Kossel conics. The orientation and strain parameters are determined based on conics marked manually on experimental patterns; these marked conics are matched with simulated patterns. The program can simultaneously match multiple patterns originating from the same sample location. The software does not require special orientations, and it is not limited to any particular material. Tests on simulated patterns have been used to confirm the internal consistency of the program. These tests also indicate the achievable accuracy; with the current approach, it is estimated to be about 3×10-4