Extended Rice–Thomson analysis and atomistic simulations revealing grain boundary effects on fracture in refractory high-entropy alloys

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Number 15, April 2026.
SignificanceThis work serves to extend the fundamental theory of ductile or brittle fracture, particularly the Rice-Thomson criterion, by introducing a grain boundary ahead of an initial crack that propagates at an oblique angle to impinge on the boundary. …