Geometrically necessary dislocation densities in olivine obtained using high-angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction
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Accepted version
Published version
Author(s)
Britton, TB
Wallis, D
Hansen, L
Wilkinson, A
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Dislocations in geological minerals are fundamental to the creep processes that control large-scale geodynamic phenomena. However, techniques to quantify their densities, distributions, and types over critical subgrain to polycrystal length scales are limited. The recent advent of high-angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD), based on diffraction pattern cross-correlation, offers a powerful new approach that has been utilised to analyse dislocation densities in the materials sciences. In particular, HR-EBSD yields significantly better angular resolution (<0.01°) than conventional EBSD (~0.5°), allowing very low dislocation densities to be analysed. We develop the application of HR-EBSD to olivine, the dominant mineral in Earth's upper mantle by testing (1) different inversion methods for estimating geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) densities, (2) the sensitivity of the method under a range of data acquisition settings, and (3) the ability of the technique to resolve a variety of olivine dislocation structures. The relatively low crystal symmetry (orthorhombic) and few slip systems in olivine result in well constrained GND density estimates. The GND density noise floor is inversely proportional to map step size, such that datasets can be optimised for analysing either short wavelength, high density structures (e.g. subgrain boundaries) or long wavelength, low amplitude orientation gradients. Comparison to conventional images of decorated dislocations demonstrates that HR-EBSD can characterise the dislocation distribution and reveal additional structure not captured by the decoration technique. HR-EBSD therefore provides a highly effective method for analysing dislocations in olivine and determining their role in accommodating macroscopic deformation.
Date Issued
2016-06-08
Date Acceptance
2016-06-06
Citation
Ultramicroscopy, 2016, 168, pp.34-45
ISSN
0304-3991
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
34
End Page
45
Journal / Book Title
Ultramicroscopy
Volume
168
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
Royal Academy Of Engineering
Grant Number
RF/129
Subjects
Microscopy
0205 Optical Physics
0299 Other Physical Sciences
Publication Status
Published