Comparison of textures determined by X-ray and electron backscatter diffraction in aluminium alloy AA 6111 sheets with different levels of cube texture

The crystallographic textures in five AA 6111 aluminium alloy sheets, having an increasing cube ({001}<100>) texture component, were determined by X-ray diffraction and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) techniques. It has been demonstrated that the two techniques yield very similar results in regard to pole figures, but they may give different volume fractions of texture components. The difference is limited when the specimen is weakly textured, but it increases with increasing dominant texture component. The EBSD technique gives a sharper dominant texture component than the X-ray technique. This could be attributed to the fact that the two methods apply different mathematics in data analyses. The different levels of systematic error and instrumental broadening may also be critical.