Basal and non-basal dislocation slip in Mg–Y

Here we study the activation of non-basal slip systems and its relevance for the ductility in hcp Mg and its alloys. In particular, for Mg–Y alloys where a higher activation of pyramidal dislocation slip causes an increased ductility detailed characterization of the activated slip systems is essential to understand and describe plasticity in these alloys.

In this study a detailed analysis of the activated dislocations and slip systems via post-mortem TEM and SEM-EBSD based slip band analysis in 3% deformed Mg–3 wt% Y is presented. The analysis reveals a substantial activity of pyramidal <c+a> dislocations with different Burgers vectors. The obtained dislocation densities and active slip systems are discussed with respect to atomistic simulations of non-basal dislocations in hcp Mg.