[en] Full text: Due to their low neutron-induced radioactivity chromium based materials are considered to be candidates as structure materials in fusion technology. Drawbacks for the application of these materials in industrial design are their brittleness at room temperature and their high Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperatures (DBTT). In this paper mechanical and fractographical investigations are presented of pure chromium (DUCROPUR) with a purity of about 99.97 % and the dispersion strengthened chromium alloy Cr₅Fe₁Y₂O₃ (DUCROLLOY). The investigated specimens have been produced in a powder metallurgical route. They have been tested in the as HIPped condition (recrystallized) and after different pre-deformations. DUCROPUR and DUCROLLOY with as HIPped microstructures show in bending tests and tension tests brittle behavior at RT. Plastic deformations are obtained between 200 ^oC and 250 ^oC and above 400 ^oC, respectively. The K_Q value of DUCROPUR increases from 12 MPam^1/2 at 290 ^oC up to a value of 500 MPam^1/2 at 320 ^oC. In spite of the large fracture toughness value at 320 ^oC the final fracture occurs again in a cleavage mode. DUCROLLOY shows up to 740 ^oC only a slight increase of fracture toughness with increasing temperature. An improvement in ductility and a significant increase in fracture strength have been induced by pre-deformation in tension, in bending, by Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE) and by Cyclic Channel Die Compression (CCDC). The developed microstructures of the samples have been investigated in the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) by means of different techniques. In order to determine the typical microstructure sizes Back Scattered Electrons (BSE) imaging has been applied. To differ if the boundaries are large or low angle boundaries the degree of misorientation has been determined with the Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) method. (author)