Crystallographic texture strongly influences the macroscopic properties of materials, making its precise characterization important for materials research. Conventional monochromatic X-ray diffraction is constrained by low X-ray flux in laboratory systems and inaccessibility of synchrotron-based instruments for industrial use. Polychromatic X-ray diffraction is promising, but complex diffraction patterns limit its use in texture analysis. Here we show a laboratory-based methodology for rapid and quantitative texture characterization of strongly fiber-textured materials using polychromatic X-ray diffraction without monochromators or energy-resolving detectors. We find that X-ray spectrum and texture information are inherently decoupled within the diffraction patterns of such symmetric systems, which simplifies the analysis. Using high-performance fiber-textured magnets as a representative benchmark, we demonstrate that this methodology reduces measurement time and enables spatially resolved analysis. This methodology provides an efficient method for texture characterization of fiber-textured magnets and has potential applications to other materials with similar texture symmetry. Crystallographic texture governs material performance, but conventional X-ray diffraction is often slow and difficult to access. Here, the authors introduce a lab-based polychromatic XRD method that enables fast, quantitative and spatially resolved texture analysis of strongly fiber-textured materials.
Yu et al. (2026) studied this question.