Deformation Twinning in Nanocrystalline Ni during Cryogenic Rolling

Deformation twinning is evidenced by transmission electron microscopy examinations in electrodeposited nanocrystalline (nc) Ni with mean grain size 25 nm upon cryogenic rolling. Two twinning mechanisms are confirmed to operate in nc grains, i.e. heterogeneous formation via emission of partial dislocations from the grain boundary and homogeneous nucleation through dynamic overlapping of stacking faults, with the former being determined as the most proficient. Deformation twinning in nc Ni may be well interpreted in terms of molecular dynamics simulation based on generalized planar fault energy curves.