Cleavage toughness of brittle materials by local elastic field analysis

Existing approaches to measuring the fracture toughness of materials at the nanoscale rely on simplified assumptions or complex sample preparation that challenge interpretation and reproduction.

In this paper* published in Acta Materialia by Dr Xiao Su and members of Professor James Marrow's research group, a novel method is described to obtain cleavage fracture toughness through measurements of the local elastic field at an arrested crack tip by high (angular) resolution backscatter diffraction.  The quasi-static critical crack is achieved by double nanoindentation.

The approach is demonstrated in a case study in single-crystal silicon (a representative brittle material).  The paper discussed how in the future in situ bodies of intergranular cleavage in polycrystalline materials might be achieved.

*'Measurement of cleavage toughness of brittle materials by local elastic field analysis'.