Indentation creep of β-Sn and Sn–Pb eutectic alloy

This study has been conducted to determine whether or not the indentation creep test provides results equivalent to those of the conventional uniaxial creep tests in the dislocation creep regime. When a conical indenter is pressed into the test surface, the plastic region beneath the indenter extends while maintaining its geometrical self-similarity as indentation proceeds. The occurrence of self-similar indentation leads to a constitutive equation from which the power-law creep exponent, n, and the activation energy for creep, Q, can be derived. The values of Q and n so obtained are in approximate agreement with the conventional uniaxial creep test results, drawn from some sources. The results indicate that two independent rate-controlling processes take place during the creep deformation of β-Sn and fine-grained Sn–Pb eutectic alloy (grain size: ∼10 μm) regardless of the temperature employed.