Primary and secondary modes of deformation twinning in HCP Mg based on atomistic simulations

Deformation twinning, i.e., twin nucleation and twin growth (or twin boundary migration, TBM) activated by impinged basal slip at a symmetrical tilt grain boundary in HCP Mg, was examined with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that the -type twinning acts as the most preferential mode of twinning. Once such twins are formed, they are almost ready to grow. The TBM of such twins is led by pure atomic shuffling events. A secondary mode of twinning can also occur in our simulations. The twinning is observed at 10 K as the secondary twin. This secondary mode of twinning shows different energy barriers for nucleation as well as for growth compared with the -type twining. In particular, TBMs in this case is triggered intrinsically by pyramidal slip at its twin boundary.