Molecular dynamics simulations were made of the ductile–brittle behavior at an edge (¯110)[110] crack neighbouring with a Cu nanoprecipitate in body-centered cubic iron. This crack in pure body-centered cubic iron emitted dislocations in the <111>{112} slip systems and was stable up to very high loads, in qualitative agreement with experiments and continuum predictions. The question was how a copper precipitate influenced the dislocation emission from the crack front and how the dislocations interacted with the precipitate.

3D Atomistic Simulation of the Interaction between a Ductile Crack and a Cu Nanoprecipitate. A.Machová, A.Spielmannová, P.Hora: Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering, 2009, 17[3], 035008