There are three main mechanisms that contribute to creep in metals: 1) Dislocation slip and climb, where dislocations move through the crystal lattice with the aid of vacancies allowing them to climb past obstacles. 2) Grain boundary sliding, where shear stresses cause grain boundaries to slide past one another. 3) Diffusional flow, where atoms diffuse from high stress areas to low stress areas within grains or along grain boundaries, elongating the material. Each mechanism involves the thermally activated movement of vacancies within the metal.