Understanding Orientation Maps in EBSD

Data collected using the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) microanalytical technique is often presented in the form of orientation maps. These maps use crystallography-based colour schemes to display the orientation of the crystal lattice at each measurement point and can be used to interpret the spatial variation of microtexture within samples. In this short video we use our EBSD data processing software, AZtecCrystal, to demonstrate the principles behind the most common orientation colouring schemes and, using a dataset from a quartz rock sample, we show how to interpret the colours in typical orientation maps.