Ductile–brittle behavior at the (1 1 0)[0 0 1] crack in bcc iron crystals loaded in mode I

Fracture experiments performed at room temperature on four test samples made of Fe–3wt.%Si single crystals with an edge crack (1 1 0)[0 0 1] (crack plane, crack front) showed approximately 45° deflections of the crack from the initial crack plane (1 1 0). This behavior appeared to be independent on loading rate. Fractographic analysis confirmed that the cracks were deviated along {1 0 0} planes and the fracture was accompanied by dislocation slip and by twinning. 3D simulations at 300 K by molecular dynamic technique in bcc iron with edge cracks of equivalent orientation indicated that the crack itself could contribute to understanding of this behavior by three processes: twinning on oblique {1 1 2} planes, which hindered growth of the original crack, and by emission of dislocations on oblique {0 1 1} and {1 2 3} planes, which led to separation of the {1 0 0} planes and might cause decohesion and subsequent cleavage fracture along the mentioned planes.