Creep deformation mechanisms in fine-grained niobium

Creep rates in fine-grained Nb were measured at 600 °C using free-standing Cu/Nb polycrystalline multilayered foils. For specimens with layer thicknesses ranging from 0.5 to 5 μm and Nb grain sizes ranging from 0.43 ± 0.05 to 1.87 ± 0.13 μm, two distinct regimes were observed. At high stresses, the stress dependence, grain size dependence and activation energy for creep are consistent with power-law creep, with an average stress exponent of 3.5. At low stresses, creep rates exhibited a linear dependence on stress and an inverse linear dependence on grain size. A model is presented for a vacancy generation-controlled creep mechanism, whereby deformation rates are controlled by the rate of vacancy generation at or near grain boundaries, not by their diffusion. The proposed model is consistent with experimental observations of stress and grain size dependence, as well as the measured activation energy for creep.