Effects of grain boundary diffusion of copper on nickel creep

We have investigated the effects of surface copper diffusion on the creep of large-grain nickel (average grain size about 20 m) and submicron crystalline nickel (grain size about 0.3 m). For both structural states of nickel we find an acceleration of creep over its value in vacuum, and an increase in plasticity during creep when copper has diffused deeply into the nickel from the surface. The temperature range over which these effects are observed in the submicron nickel is nearly 300° lower than that for the large-grain samples. This result is probably due to a significant increase in the grain-boundary and bulk diffusion coefficients of copper in submicron nickel when compared with large-grain nickel.