The Androgynous Twins of Zinc - Raw data and Models

This archive contains the original data, results, and EVPSC modeling files for the paper on the effect of pressure on {10-12} twins in Zinc. In fact, under ambient conditions Zn is a hexagonal metal with a large c/a ratio of 1.856. Plastic deformation is then accommodated by basal slip and {10-12} twins which, in this case, are compressive, i.e. are activated with a shortening of the crystal’s c-axis. As pressure increases, however, Zn’s c/a ratio decreases and crosses the critical threshold of c/a = sqrt(3) below which {10-12} twins are predicted to change from compressive to tensile in nature. This is what we test with these series of experiments, investigating deformation in zinc at low pressure, when {10-12} twins should be compressive, high pressure, when {10-12} twins should be tensile, and at the transition between both regimes.