Cavitation during superplastic flow of ternary alloys based on microduplex Pb-Sn eutectic

The effect of phases having a range of hardnesses on the superplastic tensile behaviour of microduplex Pb-Sn eutectic has been studied. The presence of relatively hard particles induced cavitation at particle/matrix interfaces during deformation in an otherwise noncavitating system, and the growth and interlinkage of cavities led to brittle superplastic fractures. Density measurements showed that cavitation increased as the volume fraction, hardness and size of intermetallic particles was increased. Increasing strain rate and decreasing deformation temperature also led to an increased level of cavitation. Cavity nucleation was attributed to the limited ability of the relatively hard phases to contribute to the accommodation processes occurring during superplastic flow.