On the importance of prismatic/basal interfaces in the growth of (1¯012) twins in hexagonal close packed crystals

The growth process of (1¯012) twins is studied in magnesium using atomistic simulations. It is shown that a specific interface, which places prismatic and basal planes face-to-face, plays an important role. This interface has a low energy, forming a cusp in the orientation-dependent interface energy of a twinned bicrystal. This interface appears in several published twin structures and, for instance, accommodates the large deviations of twin interfaces from (1¯012) planes reported recently (Zhang et al., Scr. Mater. 67 (2012) 862).