We use the Peierls-Nabarro continuum mechanics model of dislocation nucleation, modified according to the results of atomistic simulations, to interpret the experimental results of fracture response in symmetric-tilt grain boundaries in Cu. We then directly perform Molecular Dynamics simulations of fracture propagation and dislocation emission from a microcrack placed in the interface plane of the symmetric-tilt (221)(221) grain boundary in fcc Cu. Direction-dependent fracture response is observed in agreement with experiments, namely the microcrack advancing by brittle fracture along the [114] direction and being blunted by dislocation emission along the opposite [114] direction. Moreover, we are able to quantify important differences with respect to the continuum model due to the shielding of the stress field at the crack-tip and to the presence of the excess stress at the interface.
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