A quantitative microplasticity-based approach to rationalize the poor strengthening response of polycrystalline Mg alloys

This work aims to understand the inefficiency of nanoprecipitates to strengthen a weakly textured, polycrystalline Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy. An experimental micromechanical approach consisting on micropillar compression combined with analytical electron microscopy is put in place to analyze the effect of nanoprecipitation on soft and hard basal slip and twinning in individual grains with different orientations. This study shows that, in grains that are...