The nucleation of deformation twins in Mg was considered from a fundamental perspective. Atomistic simulations revealed twinning mechanisms and suggested that twin nucleation most likely occurred at grain boundaries. Twin nucleation from symmetrical tilt grain boundaries was observed using molecular dynamics and it was revealed that the nucleation pathway depended upon the tilt angle and the grain boundary defect state. In particular, twin nucleation was preferred at grain boundaries with low misorientation angles, in agreement with electron back-scattering diffraction analyses. A probabilistic description of twin nucleation was then proposed with the aim of linking atomic-scale information with meso-scale electron back-scattering diffraction statistical analyses.

An Atomic and Probabilistic Perspective on Twin Nucleation in Mg. J.Wang, I.J.Beyerlein, C.N.Tomé: Scripta Materialia, 2010, 63[7], 741-6