Compressive creep properties of lead alloys

The visco-elastic properties of lead can be used to advantage in some forms of structure to reduce undesirable load transfer. As part of an investigation of this topic a programme of compressive creep testing of lead and lead alloy specimens was undertaken and this paper reports the results from this testing. The materials tested were 99.99% lead, 0.06% copper lead, 0.06% copper 0.04% tellurium lead, and 1.2% antimony lead, and work-hardened specimens were tested at temperatures between 5°C and 60°C and at stress levels up to 12.5 N/mm2. Strain–time results from these tests are presented and from the measured secondary strain rates, values for the Norton power factor n and the creep activation energy Qc were calculated.