Deformation Twinning in Hexagonal Close-Packed Single Crystals under Uniaxial Compression

In this paper, the uniaxial compression of Mg, Ti, Zr and Co single crystals along the direction is performed by molecular dynamics (MD) to investigate the elastic-to-plastic transition in these hexagonal close-packed (hcp) metals. Two deformation twinning modes are observed in these simulations, including the twinning in Ti, Zr and Co and the [0001] twinning in Mg. The underlying atomistic mechanisms of these twinning modes are analyzed in detail.