Studies of deformation-induced texture development in sheet materials using diffraction techniques

Crystallographic texture measurements were made on a series of rolled aluminum sheet specimens deformed in equi-biaxial tension up to a strain level of 0.11. The measurement techniques used were neutron diffraction with a 4-circle goniometer, electron backscatter diffraction, conventional powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and XRD using an area detector. Results indicated a complex texture orientation distribution function which altered in response to the applied plastic deformation. Increased deformation caused the {1 1 0} planes, to align parallel to the plane of the sheet. The different techniques produced results that were very consistent with each other. The advantages and disadvantages of the various methods are discussed, with particular consideration of the time taken for each method, the range of orientation space accessible, the density of data that can be obtained, and the statistical significance of each data set with respect to rolled sheet product.