Influence of crack orientation on the ductile–brittle behavior in Fe–3 wt.% Si single crystals

In this paper we present experimental results from fracture tests performed at room temperature on bcc iron-silicon single crystals with edge cracks of two different orientations (001)[110] and (− 110)[110]. The cracks were loaded under mode I. The fracture toughness and acoustic emission response were measured, and a fractographic analysis obtained via scanning electron microscopy was carried out. Experimental results confirm the basic predictions pertaining to the influence of crack orientation on crack stability from continuum modeling and molecular dynamic simulations in bcc iron.