Nano-Indentation Studies of Twinned Magnesium Single Crystals

Nano-indentation measurements have been performed on {10–12}<10–11> twin and adjacent matrix regions of deformed magnesium single crystals and the hardness values were analyzed by the Oliver-Pharr method. Although the hardness difference between the twin regions and the adjacent matrix was insignificantly small, the hardness values showed orientation dependence regardless of the twins’ size and variants. This observation can be interrupted by texture- softening resulting from the lattice reorientation in the twin regions. In contrast, the experimental evidence for the Basinski hardening mechanism in {10–12}<10–11> twins, which is an increase in strength/hardness as a result of dislocation contributions within twin area, was not obtained from this experiment. This presentation provides framework for the discussion of the hardening/softening effect of {10–12}<10–11> twinning on the plastic flow in single crystalline magnesium and quantitative values for hardening parameters used in the crystal plasticity modeling.