Role of microstructure on twin nucleation and growth in HCP titanium: A statistical study

Abstract

A detailed statistical analysis is performed using Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) to establish the effect of microstructure on twin nucleation and growth in deformed commercial purity hexagonal close packed (HCP) titanium. Rolled titanium samples are compressed along rolling, transverse and normal directions to establish statistical correlations for {10–12}, {11–21}, and {11–22} twins. A recently developed automated EBSD-twinning analysis software is employed for the statistical analysis. The analysis provides the following key findings: (I) grain size and strain dependence is different for twin nucleation and growth; (II) twinning statistics can be generalized for the HCP metals magnesium, zirconium and titanium; and (III) complex microstructure, where grain shape and size distribution is heterogeneous, requires multi-point statistical correlations.