What Does
Dimple Fracture Mean?
A dimple fracture refers to a type of material failure on a metal's surface that is characterized by the formation and collection of microvoids along the granular boundary of the metal. The occurrence of dimple fractures is directly proportional to increased corrosion rates.
Corrosionpedia Explains Dimple Fracture
Dimple fractures are a type of ductile cracking presentation along the fracture path. The material appears physically dimpled when examined under high magnification and is most readily corrected when modified with the use of a scanning electron microscope.
There are three main types of dimple fractures:
- Shear fractures
- Tearing fractures
- Tensile fractures
All three of these fractures are characterized by tiny holes, known as microvoids, which are microscopically located in the interior of a piece of metal when under the force of an external load. The greater the load, the greater the proximity and total gap volume of these voids. The appearance of such a fractured surface is referred to as a dimple rupture. A scanning electron microscope can be used to examine a dimple rupture at a magnification of about 2500x.