Dislocation density and rate effects in the twinning of zinc

Abstract

This note presents several observations which indicate that twinning in zinc single crystals is influenced by the pre-existing dislocation structure and by the multiplication of slip dislocations which can occur prior to twinning. These observations were made during the course of an investigation of second-order pyramidal slip, i.e. the {1212}〈1213〉slip system. An order of magnitude increase in the density of basal dislocations is found to increase the [0001] axis compressive stress for twinning by a factor of 3.