Cold drawn gold bonding wires have been investigated with Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD). The textures of drawn gold wires contain major <111>, minor <100> and small fractions of complex fiber components. The <100> oriented regions are located in the center and surface of the wire, and the complex fiber component regions are located near the surface. The <111> oriented regions occur throughout the wire and have large Taylor factors and would be expected to have higher stored energy as a result of plastic deformation compared to the <100> regions. Large misorientations (angles > 40degrees) are located between the <111> and <100> regions, which means that the boundaries between them are likely to have high mobility. Boundaries within the <111> regions are predominantly <111> tilt grain boundaries with large misorientations, similarly, the <100> regions have <100> tilt grain boundaries with smaller misorientations. It appears that the stored energy as indicated by geometrically necessary dislocation content in the subgrain structure is similar in all orientations despite the large differences in Taylor factor.

Experimental results on grain boundary properties and grain growth obtained using the Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) technique are compared with the Finite Element simulation results of an Al-foil with a columnar grain structure. The starting microstructure and grain boundary properties are implemented as an input for the three-dimensional grain growth simulation. In the computational model, minimization of the interface energy is the driving force for the grain boundary motion. The computed evolved microstructure is compared with the final experimental microstructure, after annealing at 550degreesC. Good agreement is observed between the experimentally obtained microstructure and the simulated microstructure. The constitutive description of the grain boundary properties was based on a 1-parameter characterization of the variation in mobility with misorientation angle.

The development of texture in thin Cu and dilute binary Cu(Ti) and Cu(In) films has been investigated as a function of annealing history. The textures are comprised of <111>, <100> and <110> fiber in different proportions for the three films. Annealing strengthens the texture for all films. For the annealed films, alloying with Ti strengthens the <111> component, whereas alloying with In weakens it compared to pure copper. Two different approaches were used to derive volume fractions of texture components, namely fiber plots and orientation distributions. For strong mono-textured films of materials such as aluminum, fiber plots are most effective. For weaker, poly-textured films such as the copper alloys studied here, orientation distributions derived from pole figures provide the most reliable basis for quantitative characterization.

Annealing of dilute Cu(Al), Cu(In), Cu(Ti), Cu(Nb), Cu(Ir), and Cu(W) alloy films resulted in the lowest resistivity for Cu(Ti) and Cu(In) and the strongest [111] fiber texture also for Cu(Ti). Electron-beam evaporated films with compositions in the range of 2.0-4.2 at. \% and thicknesses in the range of 420-560 nm were annealed at 400degreesC for 5 h. Four-point probe resistance measurements, x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering, and particle-induced x-ray emission were used to characterize the films and to follow the changes in film texture, phase constitution, and resistivity upon annealing. The behavior of the alloy films was compared and contrasted with that for a pure evaporated Cu film. American Vacuum Society.

In materials that possess a well developed sub-grain structure in the deformed state, nucleation can be considered as a type of abnormal (sub-)grain growth. The critical condition for this type of nucleation was investigated with a Monte Carlo code. The findings were as follows. (1) The nucleus size is a key factor for survival of an embryo. An embryo with a size below a critical value is not able to grow into the matrix. If the initial radius becomes larger than the critical value, the radius has a small effect on the growth rate. (2) High stored energy is definitely necessary for both nucleation and growth. (3) In order to grow into the critical size, the neighboring subgrains must have a small disorientation with nucleus. If the disorientation of the surrounding subgrains, becomes large after growth of an embryo to critical size, the nucleus can grow into the matrix abnormally.

The motivation for this work is to explain the development of special textures during recrystallization such as the cube component, 001<100> in fcc metals. Monte Carlo simulation is used with two different mobility and energy functions. The energy function has little influence on texture development whereas the mobility function has a strong influence. A mobility function with a single broad peak does not promote growth of the cube although texture changes do occur. A sharply peaked mobility function, however, leads to marked growth in the cube. The behavior of the various texture components is studied by tracking the exchange of area between orientations. Plots in the same Euler space used to depict textures reveal a wealth of detail about which components gain or lose area from each other.

The energy and mobility of grain boundaries in aluminum are reviewed briefly based on both experimental and simulation work. A novel approach to representation of grain boundary properties is given that emphasizes the interaction between different texture components. The motivation for this work is to explain the development of special textures during recrystallization such as the cube component, 001<100> in fcc metals.