LAUSR

Orientation mapping of bulk, polycrystalline materials by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has become an important and relatively pervasive analytical tool to link microstructure to material properties and performance. In contrast, techniques based on electron channeling such as selected area channeling patterns (SACP) and electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) have been relegated to mostly niche applications. The primary driver for this is the rapid development of EBSD over the past two decades to improve pattern acquisition speeds, indexing accuracy and general usability for orientation mapping and phase identification. This is largely driven by advances in computational capabilities, but similar advances have yet to find application in the generation of electron channeling patterns (ECP), as the acquisition of which has traditionally required specialized electron optics and provides limited spatial resolution and angular field-of-view. This is despite significant potential advantages of electron channeling techniques, including the direct visualization of dislocations and strain analysis via HOLZ lines. In this work, we present the development of a stage-rocked method for generating ECPs, which relies on automated imaging at a range of different sample orientations followed by computational image alignment, segmentation and ECP extraction.