TrueEBSD in MTEX: automatic image matching for correlative microscopy applications

TL;DR

TrueEBSD in MTEX is an open-source MATLAB tool that aligns and corrects distortions in EBSD maps, enabling correlative microscopy analysis by combining EBSD data with SEM images.

Contribution

The paper introduces a re-implementation of TrueEBSD as an MTEX add-on, facilitating integrated analysis of EBSD and SEM images for advanced material characterization.

Findings

Enabled quantitative analysis combining EBSD and SEM data.

Demonstrated applications in WC-Co composites and copper polycrystals.

Improved spatial alignment for correlative microscopy.

Abstract

TrueEBSD is an open-source MATLAB program for image alignment and spatial distortion correction of images and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) maps. We have re-implemented TrueEBSD as an add-on to MTEX, an established toolbox for EBSD data analysis. Spatial alignment enables correlative analysis methods, such as augmenting EBSD orientation maps with data from other imaging modes. The augmented EBSD maps can then be analysed further using MTEX. We demonstrate TrueEBSD on two example case studies: one for measuring Co phase fraction and WC contiguity in a WC-Co composite, and another for determining the relative susceptibility of grain boundaries to void formation in a copper polycrystal. In both examples, the EBSD map was augmented with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image data. This enabled quantitative crystallographic measurements which would not be possible from analysing the EBSD maps and images separately.