Creep and Superplasticity: Evolution and Rationalization

Abstract

Detailed studies on the creep behavior of materials are of scientific and practical significance. From a scientific point of view, data obtained from such studies are critical to the characterization of creep behavior in terms of deformation mechanisms. From a practical point of view, information inferred from such studies is useful because of its relevance to many design considerations. Over the past several decades, much progress has been made in rationalizing the creep behavior of metals and solid‐solution alloys. Such progress is extended to understanding the creep behavior of new classes of materials such as powder metallurgy (PM) Al alloys, discontinuous SiC composites, superplastic alloys, and high‐entropy alloys (HEAs). Progress in micrograin superplasticity (1 μm < d < 10 μm, where d is the grain size) has been applied to the emergence of high strain rate (HSR) superplasticity using ultrafine‐grained alloys (0.3 μm < d < 1 μm). The concept of creep is utilized to develop a deformation mechanism for nanocrystalline (nc) materials (d < 100 nm). Using the details of this mechanism, it is possible (1) to explain why the behavior of nc material is not superplastic and 2) to predict a transition from superplastic behavior to nc behavior.