Texture and pole figures
In materials science, texture is the distribution of crystallographic orientations of a sample. A sample in which these orientations are random is said to have a random texture. If the crystallographic orientations are not random, but have some preferred direction, then the sample has a weak, strong, or moderate texture. The degree is dependent on the percentage of crystals that have the preferred orientation. Texture is seen in almost all engineered materials, and it can have a great influence on material properties. Texture is often represented using a "pole figure," in which a specified crystallographic axis (or pole) from each of a representative number of crystallites is plotted in a stereographic projection, along with directions relevant to the material's processing history. A "rocking curve" is a short pole figure cut in one crystallographic direction, where the profile width is a figure of merit for the degree of texture.
Systems
- High-power (18 kW) θ/θ XRD system: TTRAX
- Microdiffraction XRD: D/MAX-RAPID II
- Multipurpose high-performance XRD: Ultima IV
- Automated XRD system: SmartLab®