Intergranular Fracture

Intergranular fracture is a fracture mode where failure occurs by separation along the metal grain boundaries (and/or failure in a near grain boundary layer) rather through the metal grains. Intergranular fracture is often described as a "rock candy" fracture appearance. Intergranular fracture is evidence of zero or near zero ductility and is not a generally desirable fracture mode. A scanning electron micrograph showing intergranular fracture is shown at a magnification of 1000x in Photograph A.

Photograph A Scanning electron micrograph showing intergranular, "rock candy" fracture appearance at a magnification of 1000x.