The role of stacking faults and twin boundaries in grain refinement of a Cu–Zn alloy processed by high-pressure torsion

A recent model developed to predict the smallest grain sizes obtainable by severe plastic deformation has worked well for materials with medium to high stacking fault energies (SFEs) but not for those with low SFEs. To probe this issue, experiments were conducted using a Cu–30 wt.% Zn alloy with a very low SFE of 7 mJ/m2 as the model material. High-pressure torsion was used as the grain refinement technique. The results indicate that stacking faults and twin boundaries play a key role in the grain refinement process such that the smallest achievable grain size is determined by the highest stacking fault and twin density that the system is able to produce. An amorphization of grain boundaries was also observed in the final structure. These observations are very different from those reported for materials having medium to high SFEs and they confirm the operation of a different grain refinement mechanism.