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Diffusion Handout

Diffusion is the movement of atoms or molecules from areas of high concentration to low concentration driven by thermal energy. There are two main mechanisms: vacancy diffusion, where atoms move into vacant lattice sites; and interstitial diffusion, where smaller atoms diffuse between lattice sites. Diffusion is used in processes like heat treatment and alloying to improve material properties. The rate of diffusion depends on factors like temperature, concentration gradient, distance, and the diffusing and host materials.

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Richard Anthony N. Gapuz
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50 views

Diffusion Handout

Diffusion is the movement of atoms or molecules from areas of high concentration to low concentration driven by thermal energy. There are two main mechanisms: vacancy diffusion, where atoms move into vacant lattice sites; and interstitial diffusion, where smaller atoms diffuse between lattice sites. Diffusion is used in processes like heat treatment and alloying to improve material properties. The rate of diffusion depends on factors like temperature, concentration gradient, distance, and the diffusing and host materials.

Uploaded by

Richard Anthony N. Gapuz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Diffusion

What is Diffusion?

Diffusion is defined as the phenomenon of material transport by atomic motion (movement


of atoms or molecules in a material) driven by thermal energy and/or a gradient which are
usually from regions of high concentration to regions of low concentration.
• Diffusion is material transport by atomic motion.
• It occurs when particles spread. They move from a region where they are in high
concentration to a region where they are in low concentration
Heat treatment
• It is often done to improve properties of many materials.
• Atomic diffusion is almost always involved during a heat treatment.
Inter diffusion

 Also known as Impurity Diffusion


 Is the process whereby atoms of one metal diffuse into another.
Self diffusion
Self diffusion occurs in pure metals (all atoms exchanging positions are of the same
type)

Diffusion Mechanisms
I. Vacancy Diffusion Mechanism/Substitutional Diffusion
• Substitutional diffusion occurs by the movement of atoms from one atomic site to
another.
• In a perfect lattice, this would require the atoms to “swap places” within the lattice.
• Substitutional diffusion occurs only if a vacancy is present.
• A vacancy is a “missing atom” in the lattice
• Involves the incharge of an atom from a normal lattice position to an adjacent vacant
lattice site or vacancy
II. Interstitial Diffusion Mechanism
• - Interstitial diffusion is generally faster than vacancy diffusion because bonding of
interstitials to the surrounding atoms is normally weaker and there are many more
interstitial sites than vacancy sites to jump to.
• Involves atoms that migrate from an interstitial position to a neighboring one that is
empty

Steady State Diffusion


• Steady state diffusion takes place at a constant rate - that is, once the process starts the
number of atoms (or moles) crossing a given interface (the flux) is constant with time.
• Fick’s First Law:
dC
J=−D ; where: D = diffusivity/ rapidity with which material A can
dx
diffuse into material B
= diffusion coefficient
C = concentration
Diffusion flux (J)
• The mass, M (or thee equivalent number of atoms) diffusing through and perpendicular
to a unit cross-sectional area, A, of solid per unit of time, t.
• It expresses either as number of atoms diffusing through unit area per unit time [
atoms/(m²s)] or mass of atoms diffusing through unit area per unit time [kg/(m²s)]

Example:
A sheet of BCC Fe 1.0 mm thick is exposed to a carburizing gas on one side and a
decarburizing gas on the other at 725°C. After reaching steady state, the Fe membrane is
quenched to room temperature, and the C concentrations at each side of the membrane are
0.012 and 0.075 wt%. Calculate the diffusion coefficient if the diffusion flux is 1.4x10-8
kg/m2-sec.
Non-steady state diffusion
• The concentration of the diffusing species is a function of both time and position, C =
C(x,t)
• With respect with Fick’s Second Law, which states that the change in concentration with
time in a particular region is proportional to the change in the concentration gradient at
the that point of time.

∂C ∂2 C
Fick’s Second Law; =D 2
∂t ∂x

Solution of Fick’s Second Law

C(x, t )  C o    x 
1 erf 


Cs Co 2 Dt 
C( x,t)
Cs "error function"

t
t2 3 Cs = concentration on the
t1
C o to
surface

position, x C0 = initial concentration


Sample Problem
An FCC iron-carbon alloy initially containing 0.20 wt% C is carburized at an elevated
temperature and in an atmosphere that gives a surface carbon concentration constant at 1.0 wt
%. If after 49.5 hr the concentration of carbon is 0.35 wt% at a position 4.0 mm below the
surface, determine the temperature at which the treatment was carried out.

C(x,t)−C 0 x
Using the equation: =1−erf ⁡( )
CS  -C0   2 √ Dt
Application of Non-Steady State Diffusion
Carburizing of Steels:
- Diffuse carbon atoms into the surface of a gear made of a
low carbon steel (Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon).
- The concentration of carbon on the surface increases and
consequently the surface hardness of the gear is increases.
- The high hardness reduces the wear and improves the
resistance of the gear to fracture under cyclic loading (fatigue
resistance).

The carbon is introduced at high


temperatures to the surface by
controlling the relative partial
pressure of Co and CO2 in the
carburizing gas.
Factors That Affects Diffusion
• Temperature
Increasing the temperature increases the diffusion rate by adding energy to each
particle. This is because particles with more energy bounce against each other more
frequently and spread evenly throughout the material volume. Similarly, lowering the
temperature will lower the diffusion rate by lowering the energy of each particle.
• Concentration Difference
The rate of diffusion depends on the difference between concentrations across
the host material, with higher concentration differences resulting in higher diffusion rates.
For example, diffusion through a thin wall or membrane will occur quickly if there is a
high concentration of the gas on one side and none of the gas on the other side of the
wall. If there is already an almost equal amount of gas on both sides, diffusion will be
much slower.
• Diffusion Distance
The rate of diffusion depends on the difference between concentrations across
the host material, with higher concentration differences resulting in higher diffusion rates.
For example, diffusion through a thin wall or membrane will occur quickly if there is a
high concentration of the gas on one side and none of the gas on the other side of the
wall. If there is already an almost equal amount of gas on both sides, diffusion will be
much slower.

 Diffusing and Host Materials


Diffusion rate also depends on both the material that is diffusing and the material
it is diffusing through. At a certain temperature, all particles have the same average
energy. This means that lighter atoms, such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen
travel faster and are more mobile than larger atoms such as copper or iron. Materials
made of these lighter atoms diffuse faster than heavier materials.

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