Atomic shuffling dominated mechanism for deformation twinning in magnesium

Deformation twinning is often mediated by partial dislocation activities at the twin boundary. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we have uncovered a new mechanism for the most commonly observed {101̄2}101̄1̄ deformation twinning in Mg and other hexagonal close-packed metals. Here the twin growth involves no definable dislocations at the twin boundary, and the twin orientational relationship can be established by local atomic shuffling, directly constructing the twin lattice from the parent lattice.