Abstract
The ability to study the structure, microstructure and evolution of materials with
increasing spatial resolution is fundamental to achieving a full understanding of
the underlying science of materials. Polychromatic three-dimensional X-ray
microscopy (3DXM) is a recently developed nondestructive diffraction
technique that enables crystallographic phase identification, determination of
local crystal orientations, grain morphologies, grain interface types and
orientations, and in favorable cases direct determination of the deviatoric
elastic strain tensor with submicrometre spatial resolution in all three
dimensions. With the added capability of an energy-scanning incident beam
monochromator, the determination of absolute lattice parameters is enabled,
allowing specification of the complete elastic strain tensor with three-
dimensional spatial resolution. The methods associated with 3DXM are
described and key applications of 3DXM are discussed, including studies of
deformation in single-crystal and polycrystalline metals and semiconductors,
indentation deformation, thermal grain growth in polycrystalline aluminium, the
metal–insulator transition in nanoplatelet VO
2
, interface strengths in metal–
matrix composites, high-pressure science, Sn whisker growth, and electromigra-
tion processes. Finally, the outlook for future developments associated with this
technique is described.
