High Temperature Creep Behavior in Al-Mg(Zn)-Fe Alloys

Creep tests were conducted under a condition of constant stress on two aluminum-based alloys containing particles: Al-5% Mg-0.25% Fe and Al-5% Zn-0.22% Fe. The role of grain boundary sliding was examined in the plane of the surface using a square grid printed on the surface by carbon deposition and perpendicular to the surface using two-beam interferometry. Estimates of the contribution of grain boundary sliding to the total strain, $\varepsilon_{gbs}/\varepsilon_t$ reveal two trends; (i) the sliding contribution is consistently higher in the Al-Mg-Fe alloy, and (ii) the sliding contribution is essentially independent of strain in the Al-Mg-Fe alloy, but it shows a significant decrease with increasing strain in the Al-Zn-Fe alloy. Sliding is inhibited by the presence of particles and its contributions to the total strain are low. This inhibition is attributed to the interaction between the grain boundary dislocations responsible for sliding and particles in the boundaries.