Characteristics of different {10-12} twin variants in magnesium alloy during room temperature dynamic plastic deformation

Recently, the 10-12 twin variants activated during dynamic plastic deformation (DPD) of Mg alloy have been investigated by analyzing their Schmid factors (SFs), and their contributions to deformation have been calculated. During DPD of Mg–3%Al–1%Zn alloy, different 10-12 variants are generated relative to their SFs when initial grains have defined orientations with onea-axis of the crystal lattice at roughly 0 or 30° from the compression direction. The volume fraction of twins deeply influences the strain accommodated by twinning. The 10-12 variant pair with the maximum SF accommodated about 90% of the twinning strain. Its high volume fraction indicated that both nucleation and growth mechanisms played important roles in the strain accommodation. Other 10-12 variants had a lower volume fraction and accommodated twinning strain mainly by twin nucleation and made a lesser contribution to the total deformation.