Influence of Initial Texture, Temperature and Total Strain on the Texture Development of Polycrystalline Pyrrhotite Ores in Deformation Experiments

Abstract

The development of the crystallographic preferred orientation (texture) of polycrystalline pyrrhotite from Sullivan mine, Canada, and Cerro de Pasco, Peru was determined by neutron texture analyses before and after experimental deformation. The pyrrhotite ore from Sullivan has an initial texture with a distinct c-axis maximum perpendicular to the foliation whereas the ore from Cerro de Pasco shows a weak and moreover inhomogeneous texture within the specimen.The deformation texture and deformation behaviour of samples from Sullivan were investigated as a function of temperature, total strain and the angle between the compression axis and the initial c-axis maximum. The deformation textures show the influence of different activated glide modes as a function of the compression direction and temperature. Investigations of the deformation texture and deformation behaviour of samples from Cerro de Pasco were carried out as a function of temperature, total strain and strain rate. The inhomogeneous texture of the starting material did not allow to draw conclusions about the texture development as a function of strain rate and temperature. Nevertheless the preferred orientation of the c-axes parallel to the compression axis becomes more evident with increasing total strain.