[en] It is established that weldments are non-homogeneous anisotropic materials. Hence a new fracture criterion is necessary to predict critical directions for crack propagation as well as critical loads. The proposed criterion is that the crack will propagate in a direction so that the energy release rate is stationary. The magnitude of the critical energy release rate is a material property which is dependent upon the structure of the weldments. To utilize this criterion an existing two-dimensional finite element code has been modified. The theory explains crack branching and irregular crack-propagation directions observed experimentally. The results find immediate application in the prediction of subcritical crack growth in weld metal, and represent an improvement over previous work which treated weld metal as a homogeneous, isotropic material. (Auth.)