32

A = ε&1 e Q / RT1 = ε& 2 e Q / RT2

and,

R ln (ε&1 / ε& 2 )
Q=
(1 / T2 − 1 / T1 )

An extensive correlation between creep and diffusion data for pure metals

(refer Fig. 2.7) indicates that the activation energy for high temperature creep is

equal to the activation energy for self diffusion. The activation energy for self

diffusion is the sum of energies for the formation and movement of vacancies,

which strongly supports the view that dislocation climb is the rate controlling step

in high temperature creep. The formation of a dislocation subgrain structure is

another factor in support of this view. Therefore, it is expected that the metals in

which the vacancies move rapidly would have better creep resistance.

2.3.6 Creep Law for Aluminum based MMCs

In aluminum based composites, undergoing steady state creep, the effective

creep rate ( ε&e ) is related to the effective stress ( σ e ) through the following well

documented threshold stress ( σ o ) based creep law (Park et al, 1990; Mishra and

Pandey, 1990; Mohamed et al, 1992; Pandey et al, 1992; Gonzalez and Sherby,

1993; Pandey et al, 1994; Park and Mohamed, 1995; Cadek et al, 1995; Li and

Mohamed, 1997; Li and Langdon, 1997a, 1999a; Yoshioka et al, 1998; Tjong and

Ma, 2000; Ma and Tjong, 2001),

n
⎛σ −σo ⎞ ⎛−Q⎞
ε&e = A ⎜ e
'
⎟ exp⎜ ⎟ (2.18)
⎝ E ⎠ ⎝ RT ⎠