On the relationship between the “shuffling-dominated” and “shear-dominated” mechanisms for {101¯2} twinning in magnesium

The concept of the “shuffling-dominated” mechanism of the {101¯2} twinning mode in magnesium calls into question the importance of twinning dislocations. Nevertheless, this concept is still used as the basis for hypotheses concerning inclined twin boundaries. In this study, we demonstrate that the effect of shear deformation cannot be neglected, even if atomic motions due to shuffling are larger than those due to shear. Consequently, a twin boundary on the {101¯2} plane is always expected due to strain compatibility conditions, and inclinations are possible only due to the presence of dislocations.