posted on 2012-02-08, 00:00authored byQian Yu, Liang Qi, Kai Chen, Raja K. Mishra, Ju Li, Andrew M. Minor
We have revealed the fundamental embryonic structure
of deformation
twins using in situ mechanical testing of magnesium single crystals
in a transmission electron microscope. This structure consists of
an array of twin-related laths on the scale of several nanometers.
A computational model demonstrates that this structure should be a
generic feature at the incipient stage of deformation twinning when
there are correlated nucleation events. Our results shed light on
the origin of twinning-induced plasticity and transformation toughening,
critical to the development of advanced structural alloys with high
strength, ductility, and toughness.