Abstract
A fundamental question of materials science is how atomic-scale interactions
self-organize atoms into mesoscopic structures. This simple question is important
because the physical behavior of most materials is dominated by mesoscale
structure and dynamics. For example, self-organization is essential to understand
grain-growth and deformation microstructure and to understand their effects on
plasticity, strength, fracture, transport, and other materials properties.
To understand how mesostructures arise, and how they influence materials behavior,
it is essential to map local elemental composition, crystal/local structure,
and geometrical/chemical defect distributions. In materials, this information is
mathematically approximated by three-dimensional (3D) tensor fields, which
are typically highly heterogeneous. For this reason, 3D quantitative probes are
essential. X-ray microdiffraction is particularly interesting as it provides detailed
atomic-resolution information about local crystalline structure correlated with the
mesoscale (0.1–10 mm) real-space resolution of the probe. Furthermore, unlike
almost any other probe, X-ray microbeams can nondestructively characterize materials
properties in three-dimensions and can observe mesoscale evolution as a
response to underlying driving forces (e.g., stress).
