Primary and secondary modes of deformation twinning in HCP Mg based on atomistic simulations

Deformation twinning, i.e., twin nucleation and twin growth （or twin boundary migration, TBM） activated by impinged basal slip at a symmetrical tilt grain boundary in HCP Mg, was examined with molecular dynamics （MD） simulations. The results show that the {1^-1^-21}-type twinning acts as the most preferential mode of twinning. Once such twins are formed, they are almost ready to grow. The TBM of such twins is led by pure atomic shuffling events. A secondary mode of twinning can also occur in our simulations. The {112^-2} twinning is observed at 10 K as the secondary twin. This secondary mode of twinning shows different energy barriers for nucleation as well as for growth compared with the {1^-1^-21}-type twining. In particular, TBMs in this case is triggered intrinsically by pyramidal slip at its twin boundary.

Role of yttrium content in twinning behavior of extruded Mg−Y sheets under tension/compression

The influence of Y content on the grain-scale twinning behavior in extruded Mg−xY(x=0.5,1,5,wt.%)sheets under uniaxial tension and compression along the extruded direction was statistically investigated.An automatic twin variant analysis was employed,based on large data sets obtained by electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD),including 2691 grains with 977 twins.The{1012}tension twinning(TTW)dominance and prevailing anomalous twinning behavior(Schmid factor(m)<0)under both tension and compression were found.The anomalous twinning behavior was more pronounced as Y content increased under tensile loading,indicating a promoted stochasticity of twin variant selection for more concentrated Mg−Y alloys.However,the trend for the Y-content dependent anomalous twinning behavior was opposite in compression.The fractions of the anomalous TTWs were found to be well correlated with the maximum Schmid factor(m_(max))values of basal slip and prismatic slip in the corresponding parent grains for compression and tension,respectively,indicating that twinning and dislocation slip might be closely related in the present Mg−Y alloys.

Effect of deformation twinning on the evolution of texture in TWIP steels during cold-rolling

Texture evolution of high-manganese twining-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels (Fe-16Mn-0.6C) during cold-rolling is studied by means of quantitative orientation distribution function (ODF)analysis.Thickness reductions of the specimens during cold-rolling are 10%,20%,30%,50% and 65%,respectively.Evolution of texture is of the Brass type,which is typical for low-stacking fault energy (SFE) materials.The contribution of deformation twinning to the development of texture is clearly illustrated by the monotonic increase of the twinned Cu component.In the present study,the deformation twinning was identified as significantly contributing to deformation up to the maximum reduction applied.These results are useful for the prediction and control of the texture in TWIP steels.

AN IN SITU STUDY ON DEFORMATION TWINNING NEAR CRACK TIP IN TWO－PHASE TiAl－BASE ALIOY

An in situ study of twinning at crack tip in a TiAl-base alloy has been performed.The result shows that twinning with long shear vector(2/6) [112] can generate on(111) plane, even though usually it is very difficult to occur because of the high energy barrier. It was further shown that (1/6) [112](111) twinning is considerably easier to generate. Furthermore,(1/2)<110) ordinary dislocations were very active and dominated nearly the whole plastic zone, in spite of low Schmid factors. On the other hand, however <101) and (1/2) <112] superdislocations with higher Schmid factors can hardly be observed.

Crystal anisotropy of AZ31 magnesium alloy under uniaxial tension and compression

To investigate the deformation twinning and the plastic anisotropy of the hexagonal-close-packed（HCP） single crystal, the crystal plastic constitutive model including slip and twinning deformation was established with finite element method based on crystal plasticity theory. The model was verified by test data. Newton-Raphson iteration method was developed with the stress components directly as the basic variables of iteration. The plastic deformation behavior of single crystal AZ31 alloy was analyzed numerically under monotonic tension and compression, respectively, in four different strain paths（i.e. along 〈2110〉, 〈 0110〉, 〈0001〉 and 〈0111〉） with this model. The stress-strain curves were obtained in the above paths. The numerical calculation results show that this crystal model is feasible to predict the activity of slip/twinning system and to describe the number of active twin variants, the types of dominant twin variants and twin intersection. Due to the polar nature of mechanical twinning in inelastic deformation of the material, the plastic behavior of the single crystal material is demonstrated to be notably anisotropic and high asymmetry.

In situ analysis of multi-twin morphology and growth using synchrotron polychromatic X-ray microdiffraction

Synchrotron polychromatic X-ray microdiffraction（micro-XRD） was applied to study in situ deformation twinning of commercially AZ31（Mg-3Al-1Zn） strip subjected to uniaxial tension.The morphology and growth of twins were analyzed in situ under the load level from 64 to 73 MPa.The X-ray microdiffraction data,collected on beamline 12.3.2 at the Advanced Light Source,were then used to map an area of 396μm x 200μm within the region of interest.The experimental set-up and X-ray diffraction microscopy with a depth resolution allow the position and orientation of each illuminated grain to be determined at the submicron size.A list of parent grains sorted by crystallographic orientation were selected to examine their twinning behavior.The results depict twin variant selection,local misorientation fluctuation and mosaic spread for multi-twins within the same parent grain.As load increases,the amplitude of misorientation fluctuation along twin trace keeps increasing.This is attributable to the accumulation of geometrically necessary dislocations.

Tensile Properties of Cu with Deformation Twins Induced by SMAT

High density nano-scale deformation twins were introduced in the surface layer of Cu sample by means of surface mechanical attrition treatment （SMAT） at room temperature. The Cu sample with deformation twins shows a yield strength of about 470 MPa in tension tests. The significant strengthening may be attributed to the effective inhibition of slip dislocations by abundant twin boundaries.

Special nanostructures in Al-Mg alloys subjected to high pressure torsion

Deformation twins and stacking faults were observed in nanostructure A1-Mg alloys subjected to high pressure torsion. These observations are surprising because deformation twinnings have never been observed in their coarse-grained counterparts under normal conditions. Experimental evidences are introduced on non-equilibrium grain boundaries, deformation twinnings and partial dislocation emissions from grain boundaries. Some of these features can be explained by the results reported from molecular-dynamics simulations of pure FCC metals. Special emphasis is laid on the recent observations of high density hexagonal and rhombic shaped nanostructures with an average size of 3 nm in the A1-Mg alloys processed by high pressure torsion. A possible formation process of these nanostructures is proposed based on molecular-dynamics simulations.

α″phase-assisted nucleation to obtain ultrafineαprecipitates for designing high-strength near-βtitanium alloys

The diffusion-multiple method was used to determine the composition of Ti−6Al−4V−xMo−yZr alloy(0.45<x<12,0.5<y<14,wt.%),which can obtain an ultrafine α phase.Results show that Ti−6Al−4V−5Mo−7Zr alloy can obtain an ultrafineαphase by using the α″phase assisted nucleation.The bimodal microstructure obtained with the heat-treatment process can confer the alloy with a good balance between the strength and plasticity.The deformation mechanism is the dislocation slip and the{1101}twinning in the primary α phase.The strengthening mechanism is α/β interface strengthening.The interface of(0001)α/(110)β has a platform−step structure,whereas(1120)α/(111)βinterface is flat with no steps.

An effective rolling process of magnesium alloys for suppressing edge cracks: Width-limited rolling

To suppress the edge crack of the magnesium alloy sheet during the ordinary rolling process, a new rolling process named width-limited rolling was proposed in this paper. Width-limited rolling is a rolling method in which the width of the alloy sheet is limited by modifying the shape of the rollers, allowing a compressive stress field to form at the edge portion of the alloy sheet during rolling, resulting in the reduction of edge cracks. At present work, magnesium alloy sheets were separately subjected to ordinary rolling and width-limited rolling. The microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the rolled sheets were investigated by EBSD, TEM, and XRD. The results exhibited that under the same rolling conditions, the sheet after ordinary rolling exhibited obvious edge cracks while no crack was found at the edge of the sheet after width-limited rolling. The edge crack suppressing effect was attributed to the reduction of the tensile stress along rolling direction during WLR, promoting the synchronous extension of the edge and center regions to suppress edge crack tendency. Microstructure observation showed that the compressive twins formed in the sheet after ordinary rolling usually exhibited as thin plates and cannot continue to fully develop due to the premature generation of the edge cracks. However, the compressive twins developed maturely in some of which double twins formed and various slip systems with different dislocation Burgers vectors occurred in the rolled sheet after WLR. More twin intersections and shear bands, providing more potential recrystallization nucleation sites, which are beneficial to weaken basal texture. With the cooperation of twinning and dislocation slip, the texture of the sheet after the width-limited rolling is weakened and the mechanical properties are improved.

STRAIN INDUCED STRUCTURAL TRANSITION OF INTERFACES AND TWINS IN A HOT－DEFORMED DUAL－PHASE TIAL ALLOY

The structure characteristics of a2/γinterfaces and the features of deformation twins in a quasi-isothermal forged Ti-45Al-10Nb alloy were studied by highresolution transmission electron microscopy. Three types of strain induced a2/γinterfaces and two types of strain induced twin boundaries were identified The most,important features are high density of ledges and the existence of I/3[111] Frank partial dislocation. Mechanisms for the formation these interfaces were proposed Two types of deformation twins were observed These deformation twins always start from the ledges it seems that ledges at interfaces are important features of interfacial structure for the mechanical behavior of alloys.

Effects of twin and stacking faults on the deformation behaviors of Al nanowires under tension loading

The effects of twin spacing and temperature on the deformation behavior of nanotwinned Al under tensile loading are investigated using a molecular dynamic（MD） simulation method.The result shows that the yield strength of nanotwinned Al decreases with the increase of twin spacing,which is related to the repulsive force between twin boundary and the dislocation.The result also shows that there is no strain-hardening at the yield point.On the contrary,the stress is raised by strain hardening in the plastic stage.In addition,we also investigate the effects of stacking fault thickness and temperature on the yield strength of the Al nanowire.The simulation results indicate that the stacking fault may strengthen the Al nanowire when the thickness of the stacking fault is below a critical value.

GRAIN SIZE AND ACTIVATION ENERGY OF SERRATED YIELDING

The apparent activation energy of serrated yielding was measured by two different methods for a commercial brass H68.The results showed that the apparent activation energy of serrat- ed yielding measured by a method involving(m+β)values increases with the grain size.In contrast,those measured by another method without involving(m+β)values are all the same for specimens with different grain sizes.Combining with the observation of the microstructures,the above phenomena have been explained.The method to measure the true activation energy of serrated yielding has also been proposed.

THE α_2/γ INTERFACIAL STRUCTURE CHANGES IN A DUAL-PHASE γ-TiAl ALLOY AFTER HOT DEFORMATION AND SUBSEQUENT SHORT-TIME ANNEALING

The nonequilibrium α2/γ interfacial structures have been studied using the conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The nonequilibrium γ/γ and α2/γ interfaces are important microstructure features of hot-forged Ti-45Al-8Nb2.5Mn-0.05B alloys. The characteristics of these nonequilibrium interfacial boundaries include the frequent interfacial ledges and the deviation from the conventional orientation relationship {111}γ.

Softening interstage annealing of austenitic stainless steel sheets for stamping processes

To study the mechanics of work-hardening and annealing-softening, a series of experiments were conducted on samples of 304 austenitic stainless steel sheets. In addition, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and tensile testing were carried out to study changes and mechanisms of the stainless steel structures and properties during work-hardening and annealing-softening. The results indicate that annealing at low temperatures （100-500 ~C） can only remove partial residual stresses in the sample and the softening via annealing is not obvious. Bright annealing and rapid cooling in a protective atmosphere can completely soften the cold-worked material. In addition, the low-temperature sample without a protective atmosphere only has a little oxidation on the surface, but at higher temperature the oxidized layer is very thick. Thus, high-temperature annealing should include bright annealing.

INTERACTION BETWEEN V_4C_3 PARTICLES AND DEFORMATION TWINS

By using Moire′ pattern formed by the double diffraction of precipitated V_4C_3 and matrix of γ-phase,the nature of the structure of the interface between precipitated V_4C_3 and matrix as well as the retarding effect of V4C3 particles on the development of deformation twins have been investigated.It is shown that partially coherent interfaces exist between V_4C_3 and ma- trix.Twinning dislocations may transform into interfacial dislocations under external stress, and may move continuously through bypassing or cross-sliping.

Effect of Frequency on Fatigue Lifetime of Extruded Mg-3%Al-1%Zn Alloy

Samples prepared from as-extruded magnesium alloy Mg-3%Al-1%Zn （AZ31） billets were utilized in low-cycle fatigue tests in order to investigate the frequency-dependent fatigue life. Fully reversed strain-controlled tension-compression fatigue tests were carried out at frequencies of 1 Hz and 10 Hz in air. The microstructures were examined by optical microscopy （OM） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）.When the strain amplitude was lower than 0.2%, the fatigue life exhibited a positive correlation with loading frequency, and the activity of twinning was increased at 10 Hz. When the strain amplitude was higher than 0.2%, significant twinning was observed both at these two frequencies, and the fatigue life was found to be independent of frequency. The possible reasons for this frequency-related fatigue lifetime may be due to the dependence of twinning upon loading frequency and strain amplitude.

Microstructure evolution and shape memory behaviors of Ni_(47)Ti_(44)Nb_(9)alloy subjected to multistep thermomechanical loading with different prestrain levels

Ni_(47)Ti_(44)Nb_(9)shape memory alloy(SMA)is a promising material in the aerospace field due to its wide transformation hysteresis.The application of shape memory effect depends on multistep thermomechan-ical loading,viz.,low-temperature deformation and subsequent heating to recovery.Low-temperature deformation prestrain plays a pivotal role in shape memory properties tailoring of SMA components.However,microstructure evolution and deformation mechanisms of Ni_(47)Ti_(44)Nb_(9)SMA subjected to vari-ous prestrain levels are still unclear.To this end,microstructure evolution and shape memory behaviors of Ni_(47)Ti_(44)Nb_(9)alloy subjected to multistep thermomechanical loading with prestrain levels of 8%-16%at-28℃(M_(s)+30℃)were investigated.The results demonstrate that the stress-strain curve of the specimen exhibits four distinct stages at a maximal prestrain of 16%.Whereas stageⅡand stageⅢend at prestrains of∼8%and∼12%,respectively.In stageⅡ,the stress-induced martensitic transformation is accompanied by the dislocation slip of the NiTi matrix andβ-Nb inclusions.In stageⅢ,in addition to the higher density of dislocations and further growth of stress-induced martensite variants(SIMVs),(001)compound twins are introduced as a result of the(001)deformation twinning in stress-induced martensite.More{20-1}martensite twins are gradually introduced in stageⅣ.Correspondingly,after subsequent unloading and heating,a higher density of{114}austenite twins form in the specimen with a larger prestrain of 16%.With increasing prestrain from 8%to 16%,the recoverable strainε_(re)^(T)upon heating increases first and then decreases.Theε_(re)^(T)obtains a maximum of 7.03%at 10%prestrain and de-creases to 6.17%at 16%prestrain.The increase ofε_(re)^(T)can be attributed to the formation of new SIMVs,the further growth of existing SIMVs,and the recoverable(001)compound twins.While the decrease ofε_(re)^(T)is mainly associated with the irrecoverable strain by{20−1}martensite twins.The effect ofβ-Nb inclusions on the evolution of SIMVs is also found herein that deformedβ-Nb inclusions can significantly hinder the growth and recoverability of adjacent stress-induced martensite.

Effect of Mo and cold forging deformation on strength and ductility of cobalt-based alloy L605

Mo element was added to cobalt-based alloy L605,and cold forging deformation was performed.The effects of the addition and cold forging deformation on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloy were studied by thermodynamic calculation,electron backscatter diffraction,transmission electron microscopy,and X-ray diffraction.The stacking fault energy(SFE)of the alloy decreased after the addition,and the formation of stacking faults and intersections were promoted to improve the strength and hardness.The tensile strength of the alloy with Mo increased from 1190 to 1702 MPa after 24%cold deformation,producing significant work hardening.The strengthening mechanism is strain-induced martensitic transformation(SIMT)and deformation twinning.The alloy,combined with Mo and after 24%deformation,had both high strength and ductility in comparison with the original cobalt-based alloy L605.This is attributed to the lower SFE which caused the increase in stacking fault density.During the tensile process,theε-hcp phase was easily generated at the stacking fault to reduce the stress concentration and increase the ductility.Controlling SIMT by adjusting the density of stacking faults can improve the mechanical properties of cobalt-based alloys.Theε-hcp phase,the interaction between deformation twins and dislocations,and the interaction between e-hcp phases during cold forging deformation caused local stress concentration,lowering ductility and toughness.

Effects of deformation twinning on the mechanical properties of biodegradable Zn-Mg alloys

To satisfy the property requirements for biodegradable medical implants,Zn alloyed with low levels of Mg(≤0.8 wt%)has attracted increased research interest.In the present study,deformation twinning was observed in tensile tests and twinning appears to have an adverse impact on ductility.The profuse twinning in the as-cast Zn-Mg alloys accelerated crack growth in tension due to twinning impingement which caused local stress concentrations and initiates cracking.As-rolled Zn-Mg alloys have better ductility than their as-cast counterparts due to the inhibition of twinning by the refined Mg2Zn11 intermetallic phase and the finer grain size.