Transgranular fracture
Encyclopedia
A Transgranular fracture is a fracture
Fracture
A fracture is the separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress.The word fracture is often applied to bones of living creatures , or to crystals or crystalline materials, such as gemstones or metal...

 that follows the edges of lattice
Crystal structure
In mineralogy and crystallography, crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystalline liquid or solid. A crystal structure is composed of a pattern, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice exhibiting long-range order and symmetry...

s in a granular material
Granular material
A granular material is a conglomeration of discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles interact . The constituents that compose granular material must be large enough such that they are not subject to thermal motion fluctuations...

, ignoring the grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...

s in the individual lattices. This results in a fairly smooth looking fracture with less sharp edges than one that follows the changing grains.

Transgranular fractures are similar to wooden jigsaw puzzle
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...

 pieces with the grains showing, but with each piece having grains running in a different direction. An intergranular fracture follows the edges of the puzzle pieces, ignoring the grains in the wood.

This is opposed to an intergranular fracture
Intergranular fracture
An intergranular fracture is a fracture that follows the grains of the material. If the material has multiple lattice organizations, when one lattice ends and another begins, the fracture changes direction to follow the new grain. This results in a fairly jagged looking fracture with bumpy...

.
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