Grain boundaries resist the propagation of cleavage cracks in polycrystalline materials, and 3D geometrical models have been used to predict the accommodation required at a grain boundary as a crack propagates from grain to grain. This paper describes how focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy, which provides topographic and crystallographic contrast imaging and allows ion milling to be undertaken at selected areas of interest, can be used to investigate these local fracture events. Results of low temperature fracture of polycrystalline bcc Fe–3%Si and hcp zinc are presented. The interactions between these results and the geometrical modelling are briefly discussed.
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