Institute of Metals Division - Formation of and Recrystallization within {1012} Twin Bands in a Polycrystalline Magnesium Alloy

i2) twinning in poly crystalline magnesium does not usually occur homogeneously but is concentrated in localized regions or bands inclined at about 45 deg to the stress axis. These bands of twinning are in many ways similar to the Luders bands seen in mild steel alzd Al-Mg alloys. Within a hand the percentage of the volume twinned may approach 100 with no twinning outside the band. Bands are not produced in specimens of grain size a3 x 10-= in. or in samples deformed at temperatures 300°F. Annealing of heavily twinned regions leads to re crystallization textures markedly different from those found in the starting material. The exact preferred orientation appears to depend on the starting grain size, the amount of compres-sive strain and the manner in which it is introduced. MAGNESIUM, with its hexagonal crystal structure, deforms plastically at room temperature by a variety of deformation mechanisms, one of the most important of which is (1012) twinning. In single crystals such twinning occurs on compression parallel to the basal plane or tension perpendicular to it. In wrought polycrystalline magnesium, such as rolled sheet, the preferred orientation is such that almost all the grains have their basal planes nearly parallel to the sheet surface. Therefore, if sheet material is deformed by cold rolling or by tension in the plane of the sheet, deformation of the grains by (1012) twinning is not favored. On the other hand, twins form readily on compression parallel to the plane of the sheet as in a compression test, on the compression side of a bent sample, or at the outer rim of a drawn cup. The first part of this paper deals with the morphology of (1012) twinning in polycrystalline magnesium. Some aspects of this subject were covered by Barrett and ~aller.' Of direct bearing on the work to be reported here are the comments of Jetter' in discussion to Ref. 1. He shows that Mg + 1.5 pct Mn alloy sheet when bent about a transverse axis develops a pattern of transverse bands on the surface of compression. A longitudinal section through the sheet shows that the bands are wedge-shaped and inclined to the rolling direction. The bands were identified as "outcrops of regions in which deformation is localized as the result of the reorientation brought about by (1012) twinning". The second part of the paper treats the recrys-tallization texture of the specimens twinned by compression. Magnesium deformed and then annealed generally recrystallizes with no change in orientation.1'3'4 This statement is true provided that the amount of (1012) twinning occurring during deformation is small. In an isolated observation, Anse15 has shown that, when deformation produces much (1072) twinning, annealing causes new maxima to appear in the pole figure. The second part of the paper elaborates on this point. I) MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES All of the experimental work to be reported was done using the commercial sheet and plate alloy AZ31B (nominal composition: 3 pct Al, 1 pct Zn, 0.4 pct Mn, balance magnesium). This alloy is available commercially in two tempers, -0 (fully annealed) and -H24 (partially annealed), and specimens of both tempers were used in various experiments. The average grain. diameter (AGD) for -0 temper 0.125-in. sheet is about 0.5 x 10- in.; where material of larger grain size was desired, anneals at elevated temperature were used to grow the grains. compression tests were made on a screw-driven "hard" machine. The specimens were clamped in a