Electron backscattered diffraction study of cleavage fracture in pure iron

EBSD studies were performed to explore the potential of trace analysis to determine the crystallography of cleavage fracture plane and planar defects that form during cryogenic fracture of pure iron. Single- and double-surface trace analysis revealed that cleavage occurred along the cube {1 0 0} planes. In addition, using EBSD we were able to identify the planar defects that formed during fracture to be twins on {1 1 2} planes. The combination of trace analysis and orientation mapping was able to uniquely identify the specific variants of the {1 1 2} planes associated with each set of twins. The twin/matrix interface was mostly scalloped suggesting that twin formation could be the result of twinning on multiple twin planes.