Lecture 15-17:

Diffusion in solids: elementary concepts of phenomenological & atomistic approaches

Questions:

1. If iron is kept at 1200˚K in a carburizing atmosphere for 8hrs to obtain a carbon

concentration of 0.75 at a depth of 0.5mm. Find the time it would take to reach same
carbon concentration at depth of 7.5mm at 1250˚K. (Given D0 = 0.2x10-4 m2/s & Q =
143kJ/mole/˚K)

2. A steel containing 0.2 % carbon was heated to 950˚K for 15 hours. Find the depth of layer in
which there is no carbide. Assume that steel consists of ferrite and carbide. The solubility of
carbon in ferrite at this temperature is 0.015% and % C at the surface is negligible. (Given D0
= 2x10-6 m2/s & Q = 84.4kJ/mole/˚K)

3. The concentration of carbon on the surface of iron is maintained at 1.00% at 1175˚K for
2hours. Estimate the depth at which % C would be 0.5%. Use the diffusivity values given in
question1. Assume initial carbon content of iron to be negligible.

4. Plot the concentration profile of carbon in iron sample which was kept at 927˚C for 8hours
while maintaining 1 % carbon concentration at its surface. Assume initial carbon content of
iron as negligible.

5. It is often thought that that species having lower activation energy diffuses faster than the
one having higher activation energy. Is this always true?

6. Rank the following samples in order of increasing self diffusion coefficients (a) Aluminium
single crystal, (b) Polycrystalline aluminium whose average grain size is 5micron (c)
Polycrystalline aluminium whose average grain size is 10micron.

Answer:

1. If iron is kept at high temperature in an environment having high carbon potential it diffuses


into iron. The depth of carburization (x) is proportional to√. Therefore   

 Since
  
  
   .    
         
        Therefore . 
   .
 
   


=10.14 hours

2. If initial carbon in steel is Ci & soluble carbon in ferrite is Cα amount carbon to removed / unit
cross section through a distance dx = (Ci-Cα)dx = flux of carbon atom in time dt = -Jdt =
  $
  ! Assuming carbon concentration at surface as 0   # Thus %&'  & (!   # !
 
#  
or;  %         2 , 10$/    .,0  4.55 , 10$m2/s Now Ci =
)$ *(

,.,3 ,.,,/

0.2 & Ca = 0.015 Therefore   %.$.(
0.00063m = 0.63mm

3. Carbon content at surface Cs = 1.00, Initial carbon C0 = 0.0 & carbon content at a distance x
C=0.5

4$  . – .  
 56 7 8 Or,  56 7 8 Or, 
 0.477
4$ * √
. √
√

Or,  0.477 , 2 , 0.2 , 10$    , 2 , 3600 =0.000425m =0.445mm
.,

 
4. Carbon concentration (profile) is given by &  &=  &= 56    1  56  
√
√

D0 2.00E-05 m/s2
x, m c%
Q 143 kJ
0 1.00
T 1200 K
0.0002 0.81
D 1.18E-11 m/s2
0.0004 0.63
t 8 hr
0.0006 0.47
(Dt)0.5 0.000584
0.0008 0.33
0.001 0.23
1.2
0.0012 0.15
1
0.0014 0.09
0.8
0.0016 0.05
%C

0.6
0.0018 0.03
0.4
0.002 0.02
0.2
0
0 0.0005 0.001 0.0015 0.002 0.0025
x, m


5. Assume diffusivities of two species in a given matrix are given by         &

       respectively. Let Q1 > Q2. Let us plot logarithm of diffusivity against
reciprocal of temperature. Such plots are known as Arrhenius plot whose slope gives activation
energy.
 1 This clearly shows that there might
be a critical temperature shown by
 C 
dotted line where both have
Log D 2 identical diffusivity. In this case at
 ?  lower temperatures species 2 has
higher diffusivity where as at higher
1
temperature species 1 has higher

B
diffusivity.

6. Diffusion through grain boundaries is much faster. Since single crystal does not have any grain
boundary its diffusivity is the lowest. Finer the grains provide more number of high diffusivity
paths. Therefore diffusivity is expected to be higher. Thus > ? @ ? A