Orientation imaging microscopy investigation of the compression deformation of a [011] Ta single crystal

High-purity tantalum single crystal cylinders oriented with [011] parallel to the cylinder axis were deformed 10, 20, and 30 percent in compression. The samples took on art ellipsoidal shape during resting, elongated along the [100] direction with almost no dimensional change along [0 (1) over bar 1]. Two orthogonal sectioning planes were selected for characterization using Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM): one in the plane containing [100] and [011] (longitudinal) and the other in the plane containing [0 (1) over bar 1] and [011] (transverse). OIM revealed patterns of alternating crystal rotations that develop as a function of strain and exhibit evolving length scales. The spacing and magnitude of these alternating misorientations increase in number density and decrease in spacing with increasing strain.