Cryst. Res. Technol. 341999 1 119-126Sn-10 %Sb alloy was casted from the liquid state, drawn into wires of 0.55 mm in diameter or rolled into sheet of 0.2 mm thick. The as received as well as the heat treated specimens were examined by metallurgical microscope. Room temperature creep tests at constant loads were also carried out. The results obtained show that increasing annealing temperature, T a , affects the structure and properties of the alloy. The increase of T a leads to smaller SnSb particle size, therefore results in increasing its mechanical strength as measured by the decrease in steady state creep rate of specimen. The stress exponent parameter (m) calculated from the equation ε ú S = A σ m was found to have higher values than usual and to decrease by increasing annealing temperature which was related to the associated decrease of the SnSb particle size.

Cryst. Res. Technol. 34 1999 1 119-126 Sn-10 %Sb alloy was casted from the liquid state, drawn into wires of 0.55 mm in diameter or rolled into sheet of 0.2 mm thick. The as received as well as the heat treated specimens were examined by metallurgical microscope. Room temperature creep tests at constant loads were also carried out. The results obtained show that increasing annealing temperature, T a , affects the structure and properties of the alloy. The increase of T a leads to smaller SnSb particle size, therefore results in increasing its mechanical strength as measured by the decrease in steady state creep rate of specimen. The stress exponent parameter (m) calculated from the equation ε ú S = A σ m was found to have higher values than usual and to decrease by increasing annealing temperature which was related to the associated decrease of the SnSb particle size.