Abstract
Experiments were performed to investigate the tensile properties of gold films ranging from 300 to 800 Å in thickness, which were obtained by vacuum evaporation. A SEM observation of the fracture process was made directly in the electron microscope.
The propagation was discontinuous and crystallographic, the fracture edges lying parallel to surface slip lines. The total strain of the film was usually of the order of 0.4 to 1.7% at fracture.
Observation of the fracture process of these films were performed directly in a scanning electron microscope and a transmission electron microscope.
Propagation of the fracture tip is discontinuous, and the fracture edge is parallel to the slip lines appearing at the surface of these films.
