Abstract
In addition to dislocation slip, deformation twinning also plays an important role in accommodating strain in magnesium. To date, there have been many numerical as well as experimental efforts to understand different aspects of mechanical twinning in magnesium, however, the pure role of twin boundary (uncoupled from the effect of neighborhood in a polycrystal) on the plasticity response and especially the interaction of twin boundary with dislocations is not yet fully understood. For this kind of analysis, in order to identify slip and twinning activity in a simple stress state, local mechanical characterization takes the advantage.
Micro-mechanical testing has seen a rapid development over the last decade providing access to the local mechanical properties of materials. In this regard, micro-compression testing has opened up the possibility of localizing the region of interest (here at a twin boundary) to be deformed.
This work carries out small scale microstructural and –mechanical characterization at the twin boundary which is embedded in bi-crystalline micropillars. Comparison between the uniaxial compression behaviors of twin boundary included micropillars and single crystalline counterparts can make useful statements about understanding the net role of twin boundary in micro-plasticity of magnesium.
