Brittle fracture
Definition
Fracture with little or no plastic deformation, occurring by rapid cleavage through grains or along grain boundaries. The surface is flat, often shiny, and shows characteristic markings such as river marks and chevrons. Energy absorption is low.
Related terms
- Cleavage
- Fracture by separation along specific crystallographic planes, typically {100} planes in body-centred-cubic metals. The fracture surface is flat at the grain scale...
- Cup-and-cone fracture
- The classic macroscopic appearance of ductile tensile fracture in round bar: a flat central zone (the cup) formed by void coalescence surrounded...
- Ductile fracture
- Fracture preceded by extensive plastic deformation, in which microvoids nucleate at inclusions, grow, and coalesce to form the fracture surface. The surface...
- Intergranular fracture
- Fracture path running along grain boundaries rather than through grains. Indicates boundary weakness from segregation, embrittlement, or environmental attack, and produces a...
- SEM fractography
- The use of scanning electron microscopy to image fracture surfaces at magnifications beyond the optical limit, revealing dimple size and distribution in...
Explained in
- Ductile and Brittle Fracture IdentificationFracture with little or no plastic deformation, occurring by rapid cleavage through grains or along grain boundaries. The surface is flat, often shiny, and sho...