Abstract
Pyramidal slip mechanism plays an important role in c-axis micro-compression of hexagonal closed-packed metals. In this article, the detailed slip paths, respectively, on and
planes in magnesium single crystal are given by molecular dynamics. The pyramidal slip on
plane is suggested to consist of an edge-type partial dislocation and opposite basal movements on neighbouring basal planes, while the
slip dissociation is achieved by two partial dislocations with a strip of stacking fault. Results imply that the slip on
plane is more likely to nucleate with a relatively easy dissociation type comparing to the one on
plane. No twinning is found under c-axis compression by examining the stepwise movement of atoms involved, fully supporting the recent experimental observations of micro-compression and the theoretical analysis on twinning formation proposed by our previous work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.