Quantifying the Role of Coarse Intermetallic Particles on Deformation Behavior

Deformation twinningDeformation twinning is a mechanism of critical interest in magnesium alloysMagnesium alloys (Mg alloys) and other HCP metals, both due to its ability to accommodate strain and its tendency to contribute to failure by providing a preferential crack pathway along twin boundaries. This deleterious behavior is worsened by instances of twin transmission, where a twin impinging on a grain boundary nucleates an adjacent, connected twin in the neighboring grain due to intense local stresses. Many commercial Mg alloysMagnesium alloys (Mg alloys) feature coarse grain boundary intermetallic particles in their as-produced state which potentially impede or exacerbate the localized stresses that play a role in both twin transmission and twinningTwinning behavior. Combined EDS-EBSDElectron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) is used to analyze grain boundary particles, deformation twins, and transmission events to determine how particle morphology, position, and grain orientation modify twinning behavior and transmission likelihood, and how these findings compare to computational results from crystal plasticity—fast Fourier transform modeling.