Role of twinning in plastic deformation

A new concept of the structure of yttrium-aluminum garnet (Y₃Al₅O₁₂) has demonstrated the possibility of forming inversion twins in the (111) plane. The twinning processes are shown to be responsible for stress relaxation during the growth and plastic deformation of Y₃Al₅O₁₂ single crystals. This way of stress relaxation can be used to describe the plastic deformation of other crystals, at least cubic ones.