{10-12} twinning induced texture randomisation of friction stir processed AZ31B Mg alloy

Friction stir processing (FSP) with additional liquid nitrogen cooling was conducted on hot-rolled AZ31B Mg alloy. The FSP can simultaneously provide compress deformation perpendicular to the c-axis and tensile deformation parallel to the c-axis of close-packed hexagonal crystal cell. Massive {10-12} twins were activated under the two deformation modes, resulting in significantly reduced basal texture intensity. All six {10-12} twin variants were activated in the stir zone according to the Schmid factor criterion, and they provide a great contribution to basal texture randomisation. This study also provides a simple and effective method to remarkably reduce the basal texture intensity for deformed Mg alloy.