In‐situ investigations on the deformation, crack, and fracture behaviour of carbon materials in the scanning electron microscope

Abstract An attachment for scanning microscopes was developed in order to study the deformation, crack, and fracture behaviour of carbon materials during their electron optical observation. Thus the simultaneous registration of electron microscope images, stress‐strain‐curves and acoustic emission rates at different load regimes is possible. The combination of the mentioned methods allows a correlation between the macroscopic material behaviour and the microscopic processes taking place in the material under load. From the submitted experimental results it can be concluded that the fracture toughness of graphitic materials rises with a growing part of lamellar structure and with grain coarsening.