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 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 stress, slip-independent twins could form at lower strain. When the twin nucleation critical stress is higher than the global stress, slip-assisted twins could form due to the high local strain caused by the adjacent grains.