A transgranular fracture is a
fracture that follows the edges of
lattice
Lattice may refer to:
Arts and design
* Latticework, an ornamental criss-crossed framework, an arrangement of crossing laths or other thin strips of material
* Lattice (music), an organized grid model of pitch ratios
* Lattice (pastry), an orna ...
s in a
granular material
A granular material is a conglomeration of discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles interact (the most common example would be friction when grains collide). The constituents that compose gra ...
, ignoring the
grains in the individual lattices. This results in a fairly smooth looking fracture with fewer sharp edges than one that follows the changing grains.
This can be visualized as several wooden
jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture.
In t ...
pieces with the grains showing, but with each piece having grains running in a different direction. A transgranular fracture follows the grains in the wood, not the edges of the puzzle pieces. This is opposed to an
intergranular fracture.
References
Granularity of materials
Fracture mechanics
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