An investigation of slip and twinning behavior of a zirconium alloy during plastic deformation based on in-situ SEM-EBSD

Abstract

In this study, a combination of in-situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) was employed to investigate the tensile deformation behavior of Zr-4 alloy at room temperature. Slip trace analysis shows that the prismatic <a> slip is activated at the initial stage of deformation, while other slip modes are also activated with strain increasing. In-Grain Misorientation Axis (IGMA) analysis demonstrates a significant increase in the probability of non-prismatic slip in non-basal textured grains. In terms of twinning behavior, when the twin nucleation critical stress is lower than the global applied stress, slip-independent twins could form at lower strain. When the twin nucleation critical stress is higher than the global applied stress, slip-assisted twins could form due to the high local strain caused by the adjacent grains.