An insight into mechanical response and twinning behavior of bimodal textured AZ31 magnesium alloy under quasi-static and high strain rate compression

In this work, the dynamic, quasi-static response and twinning behavior of bimodal textured Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy is comparatively investigated at room temperature. The relationship between yield stress and bimodal texture is quantified and characterized as an increase of the yield stress with the increasing of the percentage of <0002>perpendicular to ED (extrusion direction) component; the ultimate strength under high strain rate (10(3 )s(- 1)) was quite higher than that under quasi-static condition (10(-3) s(- 1)); but, the yield stress was just the reverse. The competition between twin nucleation and growth is significantly affected by a coupled effect of strain rate and texture. Twin nucleation shows positive strain rate sensitivity and is largely enhanced by dynamic deformation. However, the twin growth tendency is bimodal texture and strain rate dependent: it is favorable under quasi-static condition for samples with more soft orientations, while for samples with more hard orientations, dynamic deformation promotes twin growth. It is also found that a higher strain rate can stimulate the activation of more twin variant types in bimodal textured magnesium alloys.