Line profile analysis of energy-scanned Laue microdiffraction peaks using the modified Williamson–Hall and modified Warren–Averbach methods

A combination of the modified Warren–Averbach (mWA) and modified Williamson–Hall (mWH) methods was applied to characterize the local dislocation structure at the micrometre scale of a laser-shock-peened Ni specimen. Peak profiles obtained by energy scanning of Laue microdiffraction peaks were analyzed in terms of dislocation density, stored energy and interaction between dislocations. The applied methods, exploiting the asymptotic form of the Fourier transform of the peak (mWA method) and the long-range screening described by the full width at half-maximum (mWH), are complementary and offer for the first time the possibility of checking the adequacy of an assumed dislocation model. The combined method is applicable to a dilute dislocation structure, when the mWH plot should be linear. The results for the dislocation density are in reasonable agreement with previous literature data obtained by transmission electron microscopy.