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In this work, we performed in situ nanoindentation in TEM to capture the real-time 〈c + a〉 dislocation and twinning activities in pure Mg during loading and unloading. We demonstrated that the screw component of 〈c + a〉 dislocations glides continuously, while the edge components rapidly become sessile during loading. The twin tip propagation is intermittent, whereas the twin boundary migration is more continuous. During unloading, we observed the elastic strain relaxation causes both 〈c + a〉 dislocation retraction and detwinning. Moreover, we note that the plastic zone comprised of 〈c + a〉 dislocations in Mg is well-defined, which contrasts with the diffused plastic zones observed in face-centered cubic metals under the nanoindentation impressions. Additionally, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the formation and evolution of deformation-induced crystallographic defects at the early stages of indentation. We observed that, in addition to 〈a〉 dislocations, the I1 stacking fault bounded with a 〈1/2c+p〉 Frank loop can be generated from the plastic zone ahead of the indenter, and potentially serve as a nucleation source for abundant 〈c + a〉 dislocations observed experimentally. These new findings are anticipated to provide new knowledge on the deformation mechanisms of Mg, which are difficult to obtain through conventional ex situ approaches. These observations may serve as a baseline for simulation work that investigate the dynamics of 〈c + a〉 dislocation slip and twinning in Mg and alloys.
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Revealing deformation mechanisms in Mg–Y alloy by in situ deformation of nano-pillars with mediated lateral stiffness
In our previous study, we observed a lack of $$\left\{ {10\bar{1}2} \right\}$$ twinning in a deformed Mg–Y alloy, which contributed to the observed yield “symmetry.” However, the effects of texture and grain size on polycrystalline deformation made it difficult to fully understand why twinning was not active. Therefore, we report herein in-depth study by in situ transmission electron microscopy, i.e., in situ TEM. The in situ deformation of nano-sized Mg–Y pillars revealed that prismatic slip was favored over twinning, namely, the critical stress required to activate prismatic slip was lower than that for twinning. This finding diametrically differs from that reported in other nano/micro-pillar deformation studies, where twinning is always the dominant deformation mechanism. By measuring the critical stresses for basal, prismatic, and pyramidal slip systems, this in situ TEM study also sheds light on the effects of the alloying element Y on reducing the intrinsic plastic anisotropy in the Mg matrix.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1729887
- PAR ID:
- 10192069
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Materials Research
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 0884-2914
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1542 to 1554
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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An extruded AZ31B (Mg-3Al-1Zn-0.5Mn) magnesium alloy with a twin volume fraction of 60% was subjected to fully reversed strain-controlled tension-compression along the extrusion direction at strain amplitudes ranging from 0.23% to 0.45%. Dislocation slips were the dominant plastic deformation mechanisms without involving persistent twinning-detwinning. At an identical strain amplitude, the fatigue life of the pre-twinned alloy was much lower than that of the as-extruded alloy. Fatigue cracks were mainly initiated on the prismatic or prismatic-basal slip bands in the parent grains. The material volume reduction of the parent grains in the pre-twinned alloy enhanced fatigue damage. Twin cracks were not observed.more » « less
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Abstract The abrupt occurrence of twinning when Mg is deformed leads to a highly anisotropic response, making it too unreliable for structural use and too unpredictable for observation. Here, we describe an in-situ transmission electron microscopy experiment on Mg crystals with strategically designed geometries for visualization of a long-proposed but unverified twinning mechanism. Combining with atomistic simulations and topological analysis, we conclude that twin nucleation occurs through a pure-shuffle mechanism that requires prismatic-basal transformations. Also, we verified a crystal geometry dependent twin growth mechanism, that is the early-stage growth associated with instability of plasticity flow, which can be dominated either by slower movement of prismatic-basal boundary steps, or by faster glide-shuffle along the twinning plane. The fundamental understanding of twinning provides a pathway to understand deformation from a scientific standpoint and the microstructure design principles to engineer metals with enhanced behavior from a technological standpoint.more » « less
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Schuh, Christopher A (Ed.)The {-1012} tensile twins terminating inside the grains of a deformed Mg-Y alloy were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The crystallographic features of terminating twins and associated slip structures were quantified and correlated. The local stresses developed at a terminating {-1012} twin were computed using crystal plasticity simulations in order to interpret the observed slip patterns. Results indicate that both basal and matrix glide were involved in accommodating the plastic stresses developed in the vicinity of terminating twins. Along the twin boundary, the defect contrast consistent with that of lattice dislocations and twinning partials was observed. Based on these observations, a dislocation reaction is proposed that establishes an interrelationship between the observed matrix glide and {-1012} twinning in Mg-Y alloys.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2019.124
