An experimental neutron diffraction study was used to quantify the evolution of twinning in pure clock-rolled material that was subsequently deformed under uniaxial compression. The clock rolling introduced an initial texture of approximately 5 times random, and the compression specimens were cut with their loading axes nearly parallel to the predominant c-axis direction. Seven specimens which were deformed to strains of between 2 and 17%, and an undeformed specimen (0% strain), were examined. The deformation was performed using an applied strain rate of 0.001/s at 77K. Twin volume fractions were estimated from the diffraction data. Changes in texture and twin volume fraction were compared with the predictions of a visco-plastic self-consistent polycrystal model which described both slip and twinning. This demonstrated the feasibility of using neutron diffraction to track the evolution of twinning.

A Study of Twinning in Zirconium Using Neutron. P.Rangaswamy, M.A.M.Bourke, D.W.Brown, G.C.Kaschner, R.B.Rogge, M.G.Stout, C.N.Tomé: Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2002, 32[3A], 757-63