Interface Orientation Distribution during Grain Growth in Bulk SrTiO₃ Measured by Means of 3D X-Ray Diffraction Contrast Tomography

3D x-ray diffraction contrast tomography (DCT) is a non-destructive technique for the determination of grain shape and crystallography in polycrystalline bulk materials. Using this technique, a strontium titanate specimen was repeatedly measured between annealing steps.. A systematic analysis of the growth history of selected grains before and after the ex-situ annealing step allows to extract the topological and morphological changes during grain growth. Furthermore, misorientation as well as interface orientation information of the microstructure reconstructions have been determined. The interface normal distribution clearly shows a preference for (100) oriented interfaces in the selected grains when annealed at 1600°C. This observation can be connected to existent interfacial energy estimations resulting from capillarity vector reconstructions. © 2012 Materials Research Society.