Study of twinning behaviors of rolled AZ31 magnesium alloy by interrupted in situ compressive tests

In this paper rolled AZ31 magnesium alloy was deformed by interrupted in situ compressive tests. Compressive and re-compressive tests were conducted along rolling direction (RD). It is discovered that the yield strength of re-compression is enhanced due to grain refinement by {10-12} tensile twins. Twinning activation and evolution are evidenced by electron backscatter diffraction. Correlations with grain orientation and boundary misorientation are observed in the region of twins that arise at grain boundaries. The distributions of grain boundary misorientation associated with twin nucleation are mapped. It is found that nucleation of twin is mainly controlled by the initial texture, and is more easy at low misorientation grain boundaries. The growth of twins depend on two modes: the thickening of the existing twin lamellae and new twins is nucleated at grain boundary. With increasing compressive strain, the growth and coalescence of twins eventually encompassed the whole grain. Meanwhile, the basal texture is weaker after compression due to the propagation and coalescence of tensile twins. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.