The development of subgrain misorientations with strain in dry synthetic NaCl measured using EBSD

The development of subgrain boundary misorientations with strain in dry, synthetic NaCl polycrystals, deformed at elevated temperature, has been investigated using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). At low natural strains, up to 0.5, average misorientations of subgrain boundaries increase with strain and a power law relationship exists between strain and average misorientations. The average misorientations are strongly influenced by grain orientation, suggesting that the misorientation–strain relationship may also be texture dependent in materials with high plastic anisotropy, like NaCl. A slight grain size dependency of the average misorientations was observed. The results indicate that with suitable calibration, average subgrain boundary misorientations may offer a method for estimating the strain accommodated by dislocation creep in NaCl and thus perhaps in other geological materials, although current theories for polycrystalline plasticity imply that misorientations may also depend on stress in some situations.