Investigation on cracking mechanism of austenite stainless steel during in situ tension in transmission electron microscope

▶ During the initial stage of loading process, at the crack tip, the dislocations slip from center to around zone and the density of dislocation is increased at local zone. With the increase of load, around center, an oval-shaped dislocation free zone (DFZ) forms. When the displacement keeps constant, the dislocations continue moving. The DFZ become thinner and the nano-cracks initiate gradually, then, propagate abruptly along the direction vertical to the tensile force. ▶ The cracks may propagate in continuous propagation way. The micro-cracks initiate ahead of the main crack firstly, then propagate, grow and connect with the main crack finally, which results in that the main crack propagates too. The initiation direction of micro-crack has a certain angle with the tensile force direction. However, the direction of the main crack propagation is always along the direction vertical to the tensile force. ▶ The cracks may propagate in discontinuous way too. The dislocations pile up inversely in front of the crack tip. The propagation process of crack is that the crack tip is blunt at first. Then, with the increase of load, the new crack tip forms in the blunt crack firstly, then propagates and is blunt again. So back and forth, the cracks propagate forward continuously.