Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
The relation between intergranular fracture and grain boundary character was studied in Ni3Al using the electron backscattering pattern (EBSP) technique. A new and improved set of experiments have been performed in which the problems of forced crack propagation and statistical validity of numerical results encountered in the earlier study were eliminated. It was found that low angle and σ3 boundaries do have a substantially lower propensity for cracking as compared to other boundaries, but there is no correlation between grain boundary σ value and the propensity for cracking for low σ boundaries. These results are in general agreement with recent theoretical predictions of grain boundary structure.