Activation mode dependent {10-12} twinning characteristics in a polycrystalline magnesium alloy

The {1 0 -1 2} extension twinning characteristics of magnesium alloys were found to be significantly influenced by the activation mode: tension parallel to the c-axis of the hexagonal close-packed unit cell or compression perpendicular to the c-axis. The Schmid factor criterion was successfully used to explain the activation of {1 0 -1 2} extension twin variants and its related twin morphology and texture evolution for each activation mode. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.