Twin formation from a twin boundary in Mg during in-situ nanomechanical testing
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null (Ed.)Twin–twin interactions (TTIs) take place when multiple twinning modes and/or twin variants are activated and interact with each other. Twin–twin junctions (TTJs) form and affect subsequent twinning/detwinning and dislocation slip, which is particularly important in determining mechanical behavior of hexagonal metals because twinning is one major deformation mode. Atomic-level study, including crystallographic analysis, transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, can provide insights into understanding the process of TTIs and structural characters associated with TTJs. Crystallographic analysis enables the classification of TTIs and the prediction of possible interfaces of twin–twin boundaries (TTBs), characters of boundary dislocations, and possible reactions of twinning dislocations and lattice dislocations at TTBs. MD simulations can explore the process of TTIs, microstructures of TTJs, atomic structures of TTBs, and stress fields associated with TTJs. The predictions based on crystallographic analysis and the findings from MD can be partially verified by TEM. More importantly, these results provide explanation for microstructural characters of TTJs and guidance for further TEM characterizations.more » « less
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null (Ed.)An in situ optical microscopy combined with ex situ electron backscatter diffraction testing was applied to a pristine single-crystal magnesium specimen under monotonic tension along the c-axis. An intrusion-like co-zone twin-twin structure is observed for the first time at the micron scale. In situ observation reveals that the intrusion-like twin-twin structure consists of multiple twin-twin boundaries (TTBs) and incoherent twin boundaries (I-CTBs) following energetically favorable formation sequences. The initial interaction results in the impinging TTBI and the acute-angle TTBA. In the local junction region on the obtuse angle side, the impinging twinning dislocations (TDs) further deposit near TTBI due to the preferred local twinning shear stress, leading to the incoherent curve of the impinging twin boundary adjacent to TTBI. Shortly after, the barrier twin boundary on the obtuse angle side migrates and encompasses the incoherent impinging twin boundary. The combination of sequential TTBI, TTBA, and I-CTBs formed locally on the obtuse angle side shapes the final configuration of the intrusion-like twin-twin structure at the micron scale.more » « less
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