On November 24, Huang Zhaowen, a young faculty member at Dongguan University of Technology, published a research paper titled Achieving ultra-high twin density and strength in HCP materials with selectively activated twinning systems as the first author in the top international journal International Journal of Plasticity, with Dongguan University of Technology listed as the first institutional affiliation. The research was supported by multiple funding programs including the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Guangdong-Dongguan Regional Joint Fund.
International Journal of Plasticity is a top-tier journal in the fields of solid mechanics and plastic deformation of materials, boasting an outstanding academic reputation and global influence. The publication of this paper by Dongguan University of Technology as the first institutional affiliation marks a major research breakthrough achieved by the university in the field of high-performance metallic structural materials. Dr. Huang Zhaowen graduated with a doctoral degree from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology in 2020, and currently serves as a faculty member at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology.
Commercially pure titanium with a hexagonal close-packed (HCP) structure features light weight, high specific strength and excellent corrosion resistance, holding broad application prospects in emerging key sectors such as low-altitude economy, biomedicine, chemical engineering and energy industries. To further enhance the load-bearing capacity of pure titanium and break through its mechanical performance bottleneck, this study innovatively proposes a synergistic processing strategy combining texture regulation and cryogenic deformation. Through the selective activation of deformation twins, a multi-level twin structure with a twin volume fraction as high as 67% was constructed in titanium. Integrated with multiple strengthening mechanisms including twin strengthening and dislocation strengthening, the strength of the material was elevated to over 1 GPa.
This work not only systematically clarifies the coupling mechanism of crystal orientation and deformation temperature on the selective activation of twin systems in HCP materials, and elucidates the temperature sensitivity differences and regulation criteria of various twin systems, but also establishes a novel regulation methodology for the structure-performance relationship of metallic structural materials. By introducing a low equivalent strain of approximately 0.33, the targeted construction of high-density multi-level twin structures and a remarkable improvement in load-bearing capacity can be realized, meeting the engineering application requirements of high efficiency, energy conservation, scalability and easy popularization.
paper link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749641925003109
