Characterization of nanocrystalline materials by X-ray line profile analysis

X-ray line profile analysis is shown to be a powerful tool to characterize the microstructure of nanocrystalline materials in terms of grain and subgrain size, dislocation structure and dislocation densities and planar defects, especially stacking faults and twin boundaries. It is shown that the X-ray method can provide valuable complementary information about the microstructure, especially when combined with transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry.