A New Method for Evaluating the Accuracy of the Orientation Measured by Different Kikuchi Pole Combinations in Kikuchi Patterns

Abstract In this study, high-precision coordinates of Kikuchi poles were obtained for orientation calculation by locating the lattice plane traces of Kikuchi patterns of stainless steel. Orientation can be measured by selecting three noncoincident Kikuchi poles in a Kikuchi pattern, and different combinations of Kikuchi poles provide different orientation solutions. The “deviation” defined in this study and the orientation calculation error of each combination are generally positively correlated. Therefore, the deviation can be used to evaluate the accuracy of the orientation calculation for each combination without the theoretical orientation, and can also be used as a criterion for selecting Kikuchi pole combinations for orientation calculations. The results show that the average misorientation angles for all combinations are 1.983° (orientation a), 2.768° (orientation b), and 2.175° (orientation c) before the screening of the Kikuchi pole combinations by deviation. For each pattern, the first five combinations with the smallest deviation are selected, and the average misorientation angles of these combinations are 0.791° (orientation a), 0.789° (orientation b), and 0.910° (orientation c). The orientation calculation errors are reduced by 60, 71, and 58%, respectively. The accuracy of the orientation calculation is greatly improved, thus avoiding the appearance of orientation solutions with large errors.