A new method of texture analysis is presented that possesses the main advantages of both the Bunge-Roe and Williams methods. The general relations between pole densities and orientation distribution are given as well as an example of the result that can be obtained when only a single incomplete pole figure is available.

Two new orientations of magnetite formed on haematite α‐Fe2O3 after low‐temperature reduction of a single crystal have been shown by means of X‐ray texture analysis. These are: orientation C, (113)M ||(00.1)H, (110)M||(10.0)H; orientation D, (115)M||(00.1)H, (110)M||(10.0)H.

It is shown that the principal topotaxial relationship between hematite a-Fe203 and magnetite Fe304 during cycles of reduction and oxidation can be considered as crystallographically reversible. The precision of the mutual orientation of the two lattices decreases as the number of cycles of reduction and oxidation increases and there is a correlation between crystallographic orientation and the rate of oxidation and of reduction.

The main characteristics of a new method of texture analysis are presented as well aa a comparative study of the results obtained with three different methods.

A new library program which allows the calculation and storage of the numerical tables necessary for a three-dimensional texture analysis is proposed. Its main characteristics are: possibility of selecting the values to be stored according to the desired microscopic and macroscopic symmetries as well as to the step of exploration of the pole figures; possibility of choosing the quantity of information to be stored for obtaining, in the further threedimensional analysis, a good agreement between the computing time and the memory space; and great precision of the stored values and short time of calculation due to the use of new and optimized a igor i thms.