Microtexture and mesotexture in high-J_c Bi-2223

The microstructure of high-J_c Bi-2223 powder-in-tube tapes was studied using x-ray and electron diffraction. Although the c-axis is nominally aligned perpendicular to the tape surface (FWHM∼20‡), x-ray phi scans and pole figures show no evidence of any in-plane texture, either macroscopically or locally. Electron backscatter diffraction patterns acquired in a scanning electron miscroscope (SEM) were used to measure individual grain orientations. Grain boundary misorientation between adjacent grains was described by rotation angles and axes (i.e. the disorientation) and compared with theoretical values of ideal coincidence site lattices (CSLs). Data collected from over 113 spatially correlated grains resulting in 227 grain boundaries, show that over 40% of the boundaries are small angle. In addition, 8% of the boundaries were found to be within the Brandon criterion for CSLs (larger than {perspective}1 and less than {perspective}50). Grain boundary "texture maps" derived from the SEM image and orientation data reveal the presence of percolative paths between low energy boundaries.