EBSD: a powerful microstructure analysis technique in the field of solidification

Summary This paper presents a few examples of the application of electron back‐scatter diffraction (EBSD) to solidification problems. For directionally solidified Al–Zn samples, this technique could reveal the change in dendrite growth directions from to as the composition of zinc increases from 5 to 90 wt%. The corresponding texture evolution and grain selection mechanisms were also examined. Twinned dendrites that form under certain solidification conditions in Al–X specimens (with X = Zn, Mg, Ni, Cu) were clearly identified as dendrite trunks split in their centre by a (111) twin plane. In Zn–0.2 wt% Al hot‐dip galvanized coatings on steel sheets, EBSD clearly revealed the preferential basal orientation distribution of the nuclei as well as the reinforcement of this distribution by the faster growth of dendrites. Moreover, in Al–Zn–Si coatings, misorientations as large as 10° mm−1 have been measured within individual grains. Finally, the complex band and lamellae microstructures that form in the Cu–Sn peritectic system at low growth rate could be shown to constitute a continuous network initiated from a single nucleus. EBSD also showed that the α and β phases had a Kurdjumov–Sachs crystallographic relationship.