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Pandey et al (1996) investigated the creep behavior of 10 vol% SiCp/Al-4%

Mg composite and noticed that the composite exhibits a stress exponent (n) = 8 and

Q ≈ 224kJ / mol at higher stress levels. The activation energy is observed to be

higher than the activation energy for lattice self-diffusion. Li and Langdon (1997b)

during re-appraisal of the same data noticed that n ≈ 3 and Q ≈ 125 kJ / mol , which

is consistent with the creep controlled by a viscous glide process and the dragging

of magnesium atom atmosphere. It is well supported by the fact that the activation

energy for diffusion of Mg in an aluminum lattice is ~130 kJ / mol . The marked

difference noticed between these two analyses is attributed to the difficulties

associated with determining the best value of n for experimental creep data, which

span over a very limited range of strain rates (Li and Langdon, 1999b). The

reported fact is in agreement with the earlier work carried out by Cadek and Sustek

(1994), which suggests that the creep data of MMCs should extend over at least

five orders of magnitude of strain rate to enable an unambiguous determination of

the value of true stress exponent (n).

The study of creep behavior of 6061Al and 7005Al matrix composites

reinforced with 20 vol% of irregular shaped Al2O3 indicates that the true stress

exponent is close to 3 for Al2O3p/6061Al composite after taking threshold stress

into account (Li and Langdon, 1997a, 1998a). In addition, the true activation

energy obtained is close to that observed for diffusion of magnesium in aluminum

matrix (Li and Langdon, 1997a). The results indicate that the creep in 6061Al

matrix composites is controlled by viscous glide process of dislocations. However,

for Al2O3p/7005Al composite, the true stress exponent appears to be ~ 4.4 and the