AZtecCrystal

Collecting good quality data is only the beginning of any complete EBSD analysis. AZtecCrystal provides all the necessary tools to process and interrogate your EBSD data and to solve your materials problems. Seamlessly integrated with AZtecHKL or operated as a standalone program, AZtecCrystal sets the standard in EBSD data processing for experts and novices alike.

Full overview >

Optimised for fast processing and large datasets
Intuitive layout with selectable viewing modes
Full map, pole figure and ODF display and analysis
Multiple advanced microstructure interrogation tools
Intelligent data handling and materials settings

Request Pricing Add to quote list View this product on your quote list

Overview
Features

AztecCrystal is a comprehensive software package for processing data collected using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). It is designed to have the ease of use necessary for newcomers to the EBSD technique, yet to have the advanced tools required for in-depth materials characterisation required by more experienced operators. Whatever you require from your EBSD data analysis, AZtecCrystal is sure to deliver.

Flexible

Multi-modal display: view the analytical tools necessary to solve every materials problem
Multi-layered map creation and display with no component limits
Ideal for all computers, from laptops to workstations

Fast

Quaternion-based algorithms for fastest data processing
Handles any size dataset from AZtec with ease: even the largest datasets are processed within seconds

Relevant data and settings are stored within each project for fast reloading

Intelligent

Designed around intelligent routines, such as void detection, GND density calculation and disorientation angle congruence

Comprehensive grain size analysis to ASTM standards with over 10 display options
Smart defaults and settings for all materials

Data Management

Utilises new flexible, open HDF5 data format (*.h5oina)
Simple export and launch directly from within AZtec
Varied demonstration datasets, used extensively in the comprehensive Help system
Visual preview of recently loaded datasets
Stores all map, pole figure, ODF, measurement, subset and material settings within each dataset
Advanced, customisable data cleaning, including automated void/crack detection
High-speed quaternion-based processing optimised for datasets up to 64 million analysis points
Automatic calculation of orientation and phase maps, pole figures and grain size upon opening new datasets
Flexible image and data export from all displays within AZtecCrystal

User Interface

Intuitive interface with AZtec theming and shared layout concept
Multiple, user-selectable Viewing Modes to access the necessary analysis tools
Separate project tree and settings panels for simple data and tool management
Main workspace panes can be undocked for viewing on multiple monitors
User-selectable zooming for work on different screen resolutions

Map Display and Analysis

Map display in either tabbed or (linked) tile form
Multiple map interaction mode (including point and grain selection, profile measurement and subset creation)
Compact legend display, exportable with maps
Unlimited, customisable map creation using individual map layers – no limits to the number of layers in any map
Multiple map layers, each fully customisable, including:
- Pattern quality and misfit
- Orientation colouring
- Texture components
- Strain and deformation (including GND density, Kernel Average Misorientation)
- EDS element distribution
- Grain size, shape, and internal orientation distribution
- Grain / subgrain / phase boundaries
- Special boundaries (including twins and coincident site lattice boundaries)
- Orientation and lattice relationships
Separate display of all individual map values and distributions
Misorientation profile analysis tool, with variable width and multiple component display
Full-grain boundary disorientation analysis

Texture Analysis

Full, customisable pole figure (PF) display
Full, customisable inverse pole figure (IPF) display
Full orientation distribution function (ODF) analysis
User-defined settings, including ODF calculation and display, density contouring, projection selection etc.
Pole plot calculation and display
Applied sample symmetry option
Data rotation to correct for sample mounting errors

Grain Size Analysis

User-defined grain size measurement
High-speed algorithms – 20,000 grains measured in < 15s
Multiple grain model displays
Grain size histogram display
Grain size number given to ASTM E2627 standard
Filtered grain size list for advanced data subsetting

Data Subsetting

Core functionality in AZtecCrystal enabling detailed interrogation of data
Subsets defined in multiple ways:
- Directly from maps
- Directly from ODFs and pole/inverse pole figures
- Directly from filtered grain lists
- Directly from any parameter range (e.g pattern quality, X-ray counts, Schmid factor, etc.)
Flexible subset manipulation tools (morphological / combination / phase)
Subsets can be used to create new datasets

Gallery

Strain at crack tips in duplex steel

Structures in a calcite-aragonite mollusc shell

Low angle disorientation rotation axes in olivine

Grain orientations in deformed quartz

Complex alpha-Ti grain structure in a Ti64 alloy

ODF showing alpha and gamma fibre textures in a ferritic steel

Subgrains in a deformed olivine grain

Strain around a crack in a Ni alloy. Sample from The Henry Royce Institute, Manchester

Applications

AZtecCrystal enables fast, high-throughput analyses of any EBSD dataset. Optimised for speed yet designed for ease-of-use, AZtecCrystal delivers the versatility of the EBSD technique for all levels of user expertise. The primary fields of application are as follows, but AZtecCrystal is ideally suited for any application of the EBSD technique:

Metals processing – e.g. grain size and texture
Aerospace- e.g. crack propagation
Microelectronics -e.g. texture and boundary characterisation
Surface coatings – e.g. phase analysis and layer structure
Structural geology – e.g. intragranular deformation and crystallographic preferred orientations
Additive manufacturing – e.g. grain structure and strain distribution

Failure analysis in steels and superalloys

Understanding the propagation of cracks through materials is key to designing materials that are less likely to fail
AZtecCrystal provides multiple tools that enable researchers to study the build up of plastic strain at crack tips and to investigate the relationship between grain structure, orientation and crack propagation

Measuring texture in rolled steels

Texture – the preferred crystallographic orientation of grains – controls many key materials properties and is a critical measurement in most processed metals, such as rolled steel
AZtecCrystal offers all the necessary tools for measuring and assessing texture in materials – orientation distribution functions (ODFs), pole and inverse pole figures, customisable texture component maps and numerous ways to determine texture fractions

Understanding deformation processes in rocks

Understanding the response of rocks to stress and strain as well as to variations in temperature and pressure is essential for an understanding of the processes that control plate tectonics, cause earthquakes and result in ore mineral emplacement
AZtecCrystal delivers rapid results highlighting deformation processes either in map form or via more advanced approaches such as boundary disorientation analysis

Grain boundary engineering of electronic components

The electrical performance of components is closely linked to the distribution and nature of crystallographic boundaries between and within grains – controlling this is known as grain boundary engineering
AZtecCrystal enables rapid characterisation of boundary populations, determining the proportion of special boundaries (such as coincident site lattice boundaries) and true determination of grain sizes on the nanometre to micrometre scale