Fractal aspects of ductile and cleavage fracture surfaces

The aim of this paper is to evaluate and interpret the three-dimensional variational fractal dimension of a ductile and a cleavage fracture surface. The fracture surface is acquired by fracturing Charpy impact and static loaded specimens of a low alloy steel in ductile-to-brittle transition temperature range, and reconstructed by a stereoscopic technique. The three-dimensional variational method for measuring fractal dimension is improved by shifting algorithm and tested on the Takagi surface using the local fractal dimension. We find very good fractal behaviour in the ductile area, however, fractal characteristics in the cleavage area are less noticeable. The results are discussed in thermodynamical terms and promote the idea that fractal behaviour reflects the quasi-static process and that the fracture mechanisms in the ductile fracture are independent of strain rate (at least up to 103 s−1).