Achievement

Cynthia Byer has been doing experimental analyses of magnesium through microcompression testing. This work has resulted in a number of accomplishments and observations, including: 1) size effects in these materials may be different in different crystal structures; 2) microcompression tests along the c axis for magnesium have been successfully performed; 3) multiple slip planes become active when loaded along the c axis, resulting in significant hardening; 4) TEM analysis confirmed pyramidal dislocations; and, 5) there are no size effect for single crystal magnesium when compressed along the c axis. These experiments have provided a new perspective on size effects, particularly for magnesium. Cynthia's work has resulted in a published journal paper in the current reporting year.