Nano twins in ultrafine-grained Ti processed by dynamic plastic deformation

The scanning electron microscopy transmission Kikuchi diffraction technique was used to characterize the microstructure of ultrafine-grained Ti processed by dynamic plastic deformation at room temperature. Contrary to the general conception that twinning plays little role in the plastic deformation of ultrafine-grained hexagonal close-packed Ti, nanocrystalline {11 (2) over bar2} and {10 (1) over bar2} deformation twins were widely observed in the material. The observation provides insight into the deformation mechanisms and mechanical behaviour of nanostructured metals with hexagonal close-packed structures. (C) 2012 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.