EBSD study on grain boundary characteristics in fine-grained Al alloys

The Al alloys considered in the study include the commercial 1050, 5052, 5083, 6061 and 1420 Al systems. The grain structure and grain orientation distribution were examined using a Jeol 6400 scanning electron microscopy, equipped with an Oxford Link Opal electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) system. The surface of the examined specimens were first mechanically polished, followed by electrochemical polishing. The spatial resolution limit of EBSD was around 0.3 μm. The scanned area was typically 40×40 μm. The number of grain boundaries included for analyses within each scanned area varied from 500-1000, depending on the grain size. At least three different areas were selected for each case and the reported results were the average values.