Pseudoelastic behavior of magnesium alloy during twinning-dominated cyclic deformation

In-situ neutron diffraction has been used to examine the pseudoelastic behavior of an extruded Mg–8.5 wt.% Al alloy during twinning-dominated cyclic deformation in both tension and compression. Twinning activity is effectively tracked through the intensity variations of the diffraction peaks for some grain orientations. The results suggest that a fundamental difference in the pseudoelastic behavior between tension and compression cyclic loadings might be due to reversible detwinning–retwinning observed only during cyclic compression.