Site-specific fracture plane determination using the FIB/TEM
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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Method and Instrumented Fixture for Femoral Fracture Testing in a Sideways Fall-on-the-Hip Position
Published on: August 17, 2017
Robert E Hackenberg1, Robert D Field, Pallas A Papin
1Materials Science and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop G770, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA. roberth@lanl.gov
Abstract:
A new method for the determination of the crystallographic indices of planar fracture surfaces is described. The key innovation is the use of a focused ion beam instrument to extract two transmission electron microscopy (TEM) foils from the fracture surface. Selected area diffraction of these foils in the TEM allows the determination of the fracture plane from the cross product of two crystallographic line directions contained within the plane. This allows the indices to be determined from relatively small fracture surfaces, affording fracture plane determinations from facets on polycrystalline samples. The validation of this method using cleavage fracture in pure zinc is described.

