A possible explanation for this behavior is that the angle of the interface affects the distribution of stress and strain at the interface. At higher angles, the stress and strain may be more evenly distributed, leading to a lower likelihood of deflection. As the angle decreases, the stress and strain may become more concentrated in certain areas, leading to a higher likelihood of deflection up to a certain point. At even larger angles, the stress and strain may again become less evenly distributed, leading to a decrease in the likelihood of deflection. Additionally, as we were able to slightly deduce from the previous study, the increased defects do lead to a quicker propagation rate of the crack. This is an increasingly noticeable effect of the angled interface, starting at the 45 • , we observed a much quicker rate of crack propagation, which may indicate that the crack can easily grow through higher angle configurations, or the interface is significantly easier to propagate through for a crack at the 45 • mark. This should not be mistaken with the fact that the higher angles, such as 37.5 • and 45 • , still do exhibit a large amount of deflection cases before penetration occurs at a higher overall toughness value.