Characterisation of orientation distributions of individual grains within deformed metals

An experimental method is presented for determining the orientation distribution function (ODF) for individual grains within deformed polycrystals. The non-destructive method is based on diffraction with monochromatic hard X-rays. First the detected diffraction spots are sorted with respect to their grain of origin. Next, for each grain the ODF is reconstructed by a variant of ART an iterative algebraic algorithm. First results are reported for tensile deformation of aluminium to 1%. The potential of the method is discussed.