A series of crystal plasticity finite element simulations are conducted to understand the grain-scale deformation process with crystallographic slip and to elucidate the development mechanism of the macroscopic yield strength for magnesium alloys. For the comparative study, different values of initial critical resolved shear stress are set for the basal slip system in a polycrystalline aggregate FE model. The main finding in this study is that the formation of shear bands with localized deformation, which are associated with the macroscopic strength and ductility, is strongly related to the evolution of deformation resistance of separate slip systems and depends on the latent hardening characteristics of the prismatic slip system.
