Robust methodology for the EBSD local misorientation analysis of surface cold work

The amount of cold work induced by a surface hardening technique and the depth to which it is produced within a metallic material are both important parameters within the field of surface engineering. In this paper a methodology of establishing reliable estimates of the depth and magnitude of cold work in surface hardened nickel-based superalloy single crystals from a dataset (map) of electron backscattered diffraction images through the analysis of local misorientations is described in detail. The impact of varying a number of acquisition parameters within the scanning electron microscope and the impact of the various post-acquisition analysis parameters on the outcome of the analysis are both described and discussed in detail. The Python script used to perform this analysis is published in full. The principles and processes underlying this methodology, as well as the published script, can be readily adapted for the analysis of datasets of electron backscattered diffraction images from other surface hardening techniques and other surface-hardened materials.