Intergranular fracture
Definition
Fracture path running along grain boundaries rather than through grains. Indicates boundary weakness from segregation, embrittlement, or environmental attack, and produces a rock-candy or faceted surface under SEM.
Related terms
- Brittle fracture
- Fracture with little or no plastic deformation, occurring by rapid cleavage through grains or along grain boundaries. The surface is flat, often...
- 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...
- 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 path running along grain boundaries rather than through grains. Indicates boundary weakness from segregation, embrittlement, or environmental attack,...