Appearance of dislocation-mediated and twinning-induced plasticity in an engineering-grade FeMnNiCr alloy

By comparing the microstructural and texture evolution with tensile stress-strain response of an Fe-24Mn-7Ni-8Cr (mass%) alloy, a slip-dominated deformation process and, at a later stage of deformation, twinning-induced plasticity are observed. The occurrence of deformation twinning is texture sensitive and occurs only in the 〈1 1 1〉 fibre texture component. Based on these experimental observations, a model is presented, which reflects an orientational and configurational peculiarity of face-centred cubic stacking faults bordered by two Shockley partials. With this model, the onset point of stacking fault growth, i.e. movement of the leading partial and stopping of the trailing partial, is evaluated. This point reflects the formation of twins in the sense that a twin is regarded as an arrangement of stacking faults on every consecutive slip plane. Furthermore, based on the tensile test results, a model-compatible description of the mechanical behaviour is shown and a reasonable stacking fault energy of about 8 mJ m−2 is calculated for the onset of partial dislocation breakaway, i.e. the onset of deformation twinning.