Brittle–ductile fabrics and P–T conditions of deformation in the East Pernambuco shear zone (Borborema Province, NE Brazil)

Fabrics of the East Pernambuco shear zone (EPSZ) were studied via microstructural analysis, mineral chemistry and isochemical phase diagram modelling to constrain the pressure and temperature conditions of deformation during shearing. Granitic mylonites show fractured feldspar porphyroclasts embedded in a fine-grained, recrystallized quartzo-feldspathic matrix. These mylonites grade laterally into banded ultramylonites characterized by stretched feldspar clasts alternated with recrystallized quartz bands. Fractures in these ultramylonites are filled by phyllosilicates. The mineral chemistry of the feldspars points to systematic changes between porphyroclasts, grains within fractures and fine-grained mixtures. Quartz crystallographic fabrics in the mylonites suggest activation of prism slip, while the ultramylonites show the activation of both rhomb and basal slip systems. Thermodynamic modelling suggests that the mylonites were formed at 4.75 ± 0.25 kbar and 526 ± 9°C, while the ultramylonites yield conditions of 5.9 ± 1 kbar and 437 ± 17°C. These observations suggest that the EPSZ records a heterogeneous path of strain accommodation, marked by decreasing temperature from its western sector to its eastern termination. The differences in metamorphic conditions are consistent with a transitional, brittle–ductile strain regime. Such characteristics indicate that the EPSZ is a Neoproterozoic shear belt nucleated and heterogeneously exhumed at the brittle–ductile transition, possibly in an intracontinental setting.Supplementary Material: EPMA analysis of feldspars in Caruaru and Gravatá domains and T-X(O2) pseudosections are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5125957

Anomalous Twinning as the Macroscopic Deformation Mechanism for AZ31 Magnesium Alloy

In order to study the plastic deformation mechanism of AZ31 magnesium alloy, in situ texture measurement during uniaxial tensile deformation is conducted by using neutron diffraction. The specimen is prepared from a rolled sheet so that the deformation axis is parallel to the rolling direction. By increasing strain, the alignment of <10-10> along the tensile axis is strengthened, which is due to the activation of the prism slip system. The basal pole concentration at the prior sheet normal direction is slightly decreased by the deformation and the new texture component is formed at the transvers direction. This can be understood by activation of the {10-12} tension twinning. These results indicate that the tension twinning plays an important role even when the tensile deformation is applied parallel to the basal plane.

Rod-Textured Zircaloy-2: A Case Study of an Anisotropic Metal with Multiple Deformation Modes, Strong Texture and Thermal Strains

Hexagonal close-packed and lower symmetry metals often exhibit anisotropic mechanical properties because the dominant slip system forbids slip in certain lattice directions. Rod-textured Zircaloy-2 is a model system which can act as a road map for understanding more complex cases. In this case prism slip is dominant and pyramidal slip is only initiated at higher applied stresses. Tensile twinning does not always play a role since its initiation depends on the starting texture. Along the rod axis, Zircaloy-2 exhibits a very strong weighting of poles lying within the basal plane of the structure such as <10 1 0>, <11 2 0> etc. However, perpendicular to the rod axis, all <hkil> poles are present. The coefficients of thermal expansion are unequal along the a- and c-axes of the crystal structure, so there are always large intrinsic thermal strains. Likewise, the mechanical properties perpendicular to the rod axis are dominated by the interaction of grains with hard and soft plastic response. Over two decades, the residual strains and the in-situ strain response parallel and perpendicular to the rod axis have been measured by neutron diffraction for both tensile and compressive applied stress. The paper reviews our understanding of the strain development for tensile and compressive applied stress in Zircaloy-2 in terms of slip and tensile twinning, the crucial part played by the thermal strains and the simplifying role of the strong texture.

Additivity of Hardening by Nanolamellar Structure and Antiphase Domain in Ti-39at%Al Single Crystals

A mixed microstructure of antiphase domains (APD) and fine lamellar structure were introduced in a Ti-39at%Al single crystal and it was examined whether the APD hardening works even in nano-scaled lamellar structures. The hardness increases with decreasing APD size even where the L is smaller than 100 nm below which the hardening by lamellar refining saturates. The mechanism of the additivity of strengthening by APD and lamellar structure is discussed in the context of the geometries of slip direction, lamellar boundaries and APD boundaries (APDBs). For {1100}<1120> prism slip (the easiest slip system of α2-Ti3Al), the lamellar boundaries are parallel to the slip direction, and therefore they interrupt the motion of screw dislocations effectively. On the other hand, APDBs inclined from lamellar boundaries can effectively obstruct the dislocation motion regardless of the dislocation character because the shear of such APDBs results in the formation of step-like APDBs on the slip-plane and requires additional stress for dislocation motion whereas APDBs parallel to the slip direction can be sheared without forming such a step-like APDB. Accordingly, APDs and lamellar structure can contribute to the strengthening complementarily.

Plastic Deformation Behavior of Ti5Si3 Single Crystals

Deformation behavior of binary stoichiometric Ti5Si3 single crystals was examined as a function of the loading axis orientation and temperature. Two different types of deformation modes, namely {1100}[0001] prism slip, {2112}1/3<2113> pyramidal slip were newly identified to be activated above 1300 °C depending on the loading axis orientation. Critical resolved shear stresses (CRSS) for the {1100}[0001] prism slip and {2112}1/3<2113> pyramidal slip were estimated to be about 130 MPa and 330 MPa at 1400 °C, respectively. The values of the CRSS for these two slip systems decrease monotonously with increasing the temperature.

Effect of Orientation and Temperature on the Mechanical Properties of Commercially Pure Titanium

This paper investigates the changes in deformation mechanisms of commercially pure titanium over a range of temperatures for different orientations relative to the initial rolling texture. Samples from grade 1 titanium plate were tested in plane strain compression (PSC). Extremes of orientation relative to the predominant split basal texture were tested at temperatures from 25°C to 700°C. Specimens were subsequently examined using X-ray texture analysis and electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD). Changing the orientation resulted in substantial yield stress anisotropy. This was found to be largely related to the orientation of the dominant texture relative to the most favorable orientation for the easiest slip mode (prism slip), and significantly but to a lesser extent on differences in twinning behaviour. The most important difference in twinning was the operation of {1012} tensile twinning in c-axis tension and {1122} compression twinning in c-axis extension. Calculations indicated that at low temperature both of these twinning modes accommodate a significant amount of strain. Twinning was also found to be the most significant factor affecting work hardening behaviour, with reorientation hardening occurring for some sample orientations. As temperature was increased above ~350°C {1011} twinning became the dominant twinning mode, but its contribution to the strain was not as large as the low temperature twinning modes, and the total amount of twinning decreased with temperature. The decrease in twinning with increasing temperature led to a reduction in the difference in work hardening behaviour. The quantitative information gathered in the course of this work is discussed in the context of mechanical property prediction.