Pole Figure and Orientation Distribution Function Analyses of FCC and BCC Metals

Abstract

Texture, by definition, is a description of the spatial arrangement of the polycrystalline grains in solids. For metals, the grain distribution is commonly presented in a pole figure in which the pole density of a set of crystallographic planes is plotted using standard stereographic projection techniques. In this paper, the pole figure is plotted such that the center of the pole figure coincides with the plate normal. A vertical line drawn in the equatorial projection corresponds to the rolling direction, while a horizontal line corresponds to the transverse direction. Consequently, the spatial arrangement of the grains in a given sample may be determined from an analysis of the pole figure.