Atomistic studies of the deformation mechanisms in the crack tip region during the low temperature fracture of body-centred cubic Fe single crystals were reported. The large-scale simulations used empirical potentials to study the crack tip response. The twins were formed by the emission of partial dislocations in adjacent slip planes of the {112} type. In addition to twinning, the results showed the nucleation of new grains in the crack-tip region. Twinning and stress-induced recrystallization phenomena were also observed in fully 3-dimensional digital samples of nanocrystalline Fe.

Twinning and Recrystallisation as Crack Tip Deformation Mechanisms during Fracture. D.Farkas: Philosophical Magazine, 2005, 85[2-3], 387-97