The paper deals with the problem of material fracture prediction in metal forming processes. It has been found that the application of well-established solutions for ductile fracture prediction to the modelling of cross rolling processes leads to serious errors. These errors result from the fact that the limit value of the damage function determined via uniaxial tensile and compression tests is too low. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a new test in which the state of stress is similar to that in a cross wedge rolling process characterized by the occurrence of alternating compressive and tensile stresses.