What is it about?
We present a series of image analysis tools to process diffraction patterns. These patterns inform us of the structure of the material illuminated by an electron beam. Automatic analysis of the patterns, with an open source tool box, enables us to generate new approaches to link these measurements to the properties of materials (e.g. how well they can be formed, how well they perform in engineering applications such as nuclear reactors, aeroplanes, and electronic devices).
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Crystal orientation controls material properties. We can measure this within the scanning electron microscope. We can reveal the internal structure and link this to the performance of materials. High resolution and high contrast information is critical to develop new materials and contribute to significant weight saving, improved performance, and durability of high value / high volume crystalline materials (e.g. metals, ceramics, semiconductor devices, and nature materials such as minerals). Our tool is open source, which provides the community with new approaches to develop insight and provide a stepping stone for the development of international collaborations. We borrow tools from the astronomy community to enable the difficult indexing step to be performed.
Perspectives
Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has been used widely since 1992 and it has been fundamental in the development of metals and materials used in a large range of important applications. For instance, the ability to "deep draw" an aluminium beverage can has been enabled through EBSD, to reduce the total metal used per can which has wide ranging and fundamental implications for society at large. These ideas are also used in transport (e.g. sheet forming for cars), energy (power stations, nuclear reactors, and solar panels), as well as electronics. EBSD as a technique is highly automated with advanced image based software analysis, but the existing tools are are all commercial and their algorithms are locked away. Our open source tool opens up this approach to the wider community and should provide a stepping stone for the development of new algorithms and the next wave of community based developments.
Ben Britton
Imperial College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: AstroEBSD: exploring new space in pattern indexing with methods launched from an astronomical approach, Journal of Applied Crystallography, October 2018, International Union of Crystallography,
DOI: 10.1107/s1600576718010373.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
