A method allowing the cracking of a material to be controlled, and a device for the implementation of the method are disclosed. A target cracking path is defined in a given volume of material. Mechanical loads are applied to the material in order to control the propagation of a crack in the volume so that the crack propagates along the target path. In order to prevent an unstable propagation of the crack, a stabilization load especially designed for stabilizing the propagation of the crack is applied to the volume.