Simultaneous enhancement of strength and ductility for AZ31 magnesium alloy by pre-twinning induced heterostructure

Pre-twinning was used to tailor the strength and ductility of AZ31 magnesium alloy. Simultaneous enhancements in both ductility and strength were achieved in the AZ31 after the introducing of a high fraction of twin-matrix pairs. The slip trace analysis indicated that although the area-weighted average global Schmid factors (SFs) were not significantly changed, much more non-basal slip was activated in the pre-twinned sample compared with that in the as-received sample, which was beneficial to achieving higher work hardening and obtaining higher uniform elongation. The high-resolution digital image correlation (DIC) combined with ex-situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) characterization revealed that the uniformity of the grain-size scale strain distribution was improved and the local strain concentration at the boundary was reduced during the loading as result of the extra activated non-basal slip, which delayed intergranular crack initiation and increased ductility. The activation of much non-basal slip with high critical resolved shear stress, the hetero-deformation, and the fine equivalent grain size caused the strengthening of the AZ31 sample with a high fraction of twin-matrix pair interfaces. These results imply that tailoring the twin-matrix interface density is an effective strategy to achieve excellent strength-ductility combinations in HCP metals.