Characterization of the parameters relating adjacent grains using transmission electron microscopy

A simple technique is presented for characterizing parameters such as the misorientation angle and the axis of rotation between two adjacent grains using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), without the need for an image of the Kikuchi pattern. The technique described makes use of the orthogonal relationship between the tilt axes used in TEM and the axes of the cubic crystal. The relationship was established using the well known triangulation method, in which the direction of the crystal parallel to the beam direction is determined from the measured tilt angles of the three zone axes. The error in measuring the tilt angles of the three zone axes can be evaluated by comparing the measured and crystallographic angles. The angle of deviation from the coincident site lattice (CSL) that results from the measurement error could be reduced by establishing the modified orthogonal relationship between the tilt and crystal axes. The use of this method could provide accurate measurement in real time for indexing a CSL boundary using TEM.