Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for rapid grain size analysis of polycrystalline materials

US6882739B2 · kind B2 · utility

19Cited by
7References
44Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 19, 2001
Grant dateApr 19, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 1, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N23/20
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An apparatus and method for performing rapid grain size analysis on a textured polycrystalline material, by generating average grain size and grain size distribution data from x-ray diffraction data of such material. Raw diffraction data is obtained by capturing a plurality of diffraction arcs within a single data capture frame. The raw diffraction data is digitally registered; (3) and the registered diffraction data is filtered to remove background noise, exclude diffraction overlaps or truncations, and compensate for biased data obtained from regions of highly preferred orientations. Average grain size and grain size distribution data are then correlated with the filtered diffraction data. The apparatus for acquiring raw diffraction data includes a collimated x-ray source having means for adjusting beam size and divergence of the x-ray generated, a 2-dimensional area detector for registering diffracted x-ray, and a sample motion assembly for moving the sample in the sample plane. The resulting system is fast, accurate, amenable to automation, and does not require highly skilled personnel to operate.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.