Polycrystal scattering topography

The concept of X-ray diffraction topography, which has been ordinarily applied to single crystals, has been extended to the observation of polycrystals and amorphous materials. This new method utilizes X-rays scattered elastically or inelastically from a specimen to observe polycrystals, and is called polycrystal scattering topography (PST). The principle and some PST techniques are described. The discussion is further extended to the potentiality of PST and an experimental method with synchrotron radiation. In order to demonstrate the capability of this method, several techniques of PST have been applied to metallurgical problems. It has been found that the PST provides a helpful tool in studying polycrystals in which neither X-ray radiography nor X-ray diffraction topography would be helpful.