A quantitative texture analysis, including calculations of the orientation distribution function, is applied to investigate the preferred orientation of β-Si_3N_4 in a fine-grained material containing almost equiaxed grains that has been hot-pressed, annealed, and plane-strain compressed. The results show that (I) plane strain compression can produce relatively strong textures that were dependent on the compressive strain; (ii) the basal plane of hexagonal β-Si_3N_4 was normal to the hot-pressing direction for the hot-pressed and annealed samples, whereas it was parallel to the stress axis for deformed samples; and (iii) the mechanisms for texture development were preferred grain growth for the annealed sample and grain rotation for the hot-pressed and deformed samples. Respectively.
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