The Effect of Smoothing on ODF Reproduction

Although the smoothing of experimental pole‐density data modifies the primary data set, the effect of such a procedure on the Orientation Distribution Function and on the interpretation of the texture was not considered until recently. The influence of smoothing on texture reproduction will be derived for the case, that the Orientation Distribution Function is approximated by a linear combination of normal distributions (ideal orientation components) and smoothing is carried out with normal distributions, too. The characteristic component parameters are well‐suited to indicate changes of the Orientation Distribution Function. The observed texture variations as a consequence of smoothing lead to the conclusion, that moderate smoothing does not falsifythe texture. Several possibilities to control the effect of smoothing will be discussed. Based on the visual comparison of smoothed and unsmoothed pole‐figures it is argued, that even extreme smoothing may be useful for some purposes.