On correction of translational misalignments between section planes in 3D EBSD.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Crystallography
• Electron Microscopy

Background:

• Three-dimensional electron backscatter diffraction (3D EBSD) reconstructs material structure from 2D sections.
• Commonly, 3D EBSD involves sequential electron beam mapping and focused ion beam milling.
• Imprecise sample positioning between beams causes translational misalignments in reconstructed 3D data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the challenge of correcting translational misalignments in 3D EBSD data.
• To develop an alignment algorithm robust to structural anisotropy in materials.
• To improve the accuracy of 3D material image reconstruction.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a combination of electron beam for EBSD mapping and focused ion beam for material removal.
• Developed a novel alignment algorithm incorporating external support information for systematic misalignment trends.
• Tested the algorithm on simulated data with varying degrees and types of anisotropy.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated failure of commonly used alignment methods with anisotropic materials.
• Showcased the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in correcting misalignments, even with anisotropy.
• Validated the algorithm's performance on simulated datasets and a real-world fine-grained aluminum alloy sample.

Conclusions:

• The developed alignment algorithm significantly improves 3D image recovery in 3D EBSD.
• The open-source algorithm offers a practical solution for researchers dealing with anisotropic materials.
• Accurate 3D reconstruction is crucial for understanding material properties and behavior.