Abstract

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is an extremely powerful tool for analyzing the structure of mater. Sample preparation of heterogeneous materials as metallic alloys and minerals where grains with different physical and chemical characteristics has always been a challenge, being sometimes the main reason for the failure of the analysis. The present article intends to present to the reader a small survey of the most common EBSD sample preparation techniques and some of the newest advances in the area, as well references for further reading, though not being exhaustive as a review paper. Conventional techniques such as mechanical polishing and electropolishing as well as the more recent ion milling techniques using broad beam and the focused ion beam microscopes (FIB), are briefly presented and discussed.