Optimizing broad ion beam polishing of zircaloy-4 for electron backscatter diffraction analysis

Abstract: Microstructural analysis with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) involves sectioning and polishing to create a flat and preparation-artifact free surface. The quality of EBSD analysis is often dependant on this step, and this motivates us to explore how broad ion beam (BIB) milling can be optimised for the preparation of zircaloy-4 with different grain sizes. We systematically explore the role of ion beam angle, ion beam voltage, polishing duration and polishing temperature and how this changes the surface roughness and indexing quality. Our results provide a method to routinely prepare high-quality Zircaloy-4 surfaces, and methods to optimise BIB polishing of other materials for high-quality EBSD studies.