A Comparison of Textures Measured Using X-Ray and Electron Backscatter Diffraction

Shortly after the initial development of an automated technique for measuring individual crystallographic orientations using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), several studies were undertaken to estimate the number of single orientation measurements necessary to achieve the statistics of more conventional texture measurement techniques such as pole figure measurement using X-ray diffraction. Since those early studies, the speed of modern EBSD systems has increased by nearly two orders of magnitude. Thus, the question of statistical reliability relative to X-ray diffraction measurements deserves revisiting. This investigation reconsiders the statistical variances between textures measured using individual orientation measurements and those measured using X-ray diffraction. In particular, textures measured by EBSD and X-ray diffraction in rolled stainless steel and in threaded steel rods are compared. Using comparisons of intensities in the orientation distribution functions (ODFs), volume fractions of key texture components and observed sample symmetry suggest that approximately 10,000 grain orientations need to be sampled in these materials of moderate texture strength.