Scribd
Upload
9 views

Diffusion

Uploaded by

Irene Chapado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
9 views

Diffusion

Uploaded by

Irene Chapado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 14

3.

Diffusion

Teacher: Maitane Gabilondo Nieto ([email protected])

Materials Science and Engineering 1


INDEX
3.1. Definition

3.2. Diffusion mechanisms


3.2.1. Vacancy diffusion
3.2.2. Interstitial diffusion

3.3. Fick’s laws


3.3.1. Steady-state diffusion
3.3.2. Nonsteady-state diffusion

3.4. Factors that affect diffusion


3.4.1. Diffusing species
3.4.2. Temperature

Materials Science and Engineering 2


3.1. Definition
Diffusion is the phenomenon of material transport by atomic motion. Many reactions and
processes that are important in our lives are based on the transfer of mass.
Diffusion in gases Diffusion in liquids

Diffusion in solids => the most important for Materials Science. It is the slowest because is
restricted by close positions and strong bonds. A lot of processes are based on diffusion:

Solidification Phase Heat


And more…
processes transformations treatments

Materials Science and Engineering 3


3.1. Definition
Example of diffusion: copper and nickel

After heat
treatment

In order to understand diffusion we need to know:


• The mechanisms by which diffusion occurs
• The equations applied to diffusion
• Factors that influence the rate of diffusion

Materials Science and Engineering 4


3.2. Diffusion mechanisms
Diffusion is the migration of atoms from one site to another.
Two conditions must be met:
1) There must be an empty adjacent site.
2) The atom must have enough energy to break bonds with its neigbour atoms.

Diffusion in metals occurs mainly by: vacancy diffusion and interstitial diffusion.

3.2.1. Vacancy diffusion


It happens the movement of an atom from a normal position to an adjacent vacant position.
For this process to occur, it is necessary the presence of vacancies and is a function of the
number of these defects.

Materials Science and Engineering 5


3.2. Diffusion mechanisms
3.2.2. Interstitial diffusion
The atoms migrate from an interstitial position to a neighbour that is empty. This mechanism
happens in the case of impurities that are small enough to fit into the interstitial position, for
example hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen...
In most metal alloys, interstitial diffusion occurs much more rapidly than vacancy diffusion
because interstitial atoms are smaller and more mobile.

Materials Science and Engineering 6


3.3. Fick’s laws
It is very important to know the laws applied to diffusion because a lot of thermally activated
processes are controlled by this phenomenon.

Fick’s laws: they try to determine the net flow of atoms through a surface in a solid.
Generally, there are two cases:
• Steady state (Fick’s 1st law)
• Non-steady state (Fick’s 2nd law).
3.3.1. Steady-state diffusion
Diffusion is a process that depends on time, i.e., the quantity of an element that is
transported in another is a function of time. The rate of mass transfer is expressed by
diffusion flux (J) and is defined as:
𝑑𝐶 Fick’s 1st law
𝐽 = −𝐷
𝑑𝑥
where J is the diffusion flux (kg/m2·s), D is the diffusion coefficient (m2/s), C is concentration
(kg/m3) and x is the position (m).

Materials Science and Engineering 7


3.3. Fick’s laws
3.3.1. Steady-state diffusion
𝑑𝐶 Fick’s 1st law
𝐽 = −𝐷
𝑑𝑥

• The negative sign of the equation indicates that diffusion occurs in a direction
opposite to that of increasing concetration.
• As diffusion occurs in the direction of decreasing concentration, the flux is
always a positive quantity.
• D is affected by concentration, temperature, pressure, solvent properties and
the chemical nature.

When there is a linear concentration profile:

∆𝐶 𝐶𝐵 − 𝐶𝐴
𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 = =
∆𝑥 𝑥𝐵 − 𝑥𝐴

Materials Science and Engineering 8


3.3. Fick’s laws
3.3.2. Nonsteady-state diffusion
Usually, the diffusion flux and the concentration gradient at some particular point in a solid vary
with time=> nonsteady-state diffusion. 𝜕𝐶 𝜕2𝐶
=𝐷 2 Fick’s 2nd law
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥
Solutions to this expression can be obtained when
boundary conditions are specified.

For t=0, C=C0 at 0 ≤ x ≤ ∞


For t>0, C=Cs (constant surface concentration) at x=0
C=C0 at x= ∞
𝜕𝐶 𝜕2𝐶 𝐶𝑥 − 𝐶0
=𝐷 2 𝑥
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝐶𝑠 − 𝐶0 = 1 − 𝑒𝑟𝑓
2 𝐷𝑡

Materials Science and Engineering 9


3.4. Factors that influence diffusion
There are several factors that affect diffusion, among them the diffusing species and temperature.
3.4.1. Diffusing species
The magnitude of the diffusion coefficient, D, is indicative of the rate at which atoms
diffuse. The diffusing species as well as the host material influence the diffusion coefficient.

Materials Science and Engineering 10


3.4. Factors that influence diffusion
3.4.2. Temperature
Temperature has a significant influence on the coefficients and diffusion rates. The temperature
dependence of the diffusion coefficient is:
𝑄𝑑
𝐷 = 𝐷0 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −
𝑅𝑇
where D0 is a temperature independent factor (m2/s), Qd is the activation energy for diffusion
(J/mol), R is the gas constant (8,31 J/mol·K) and T is the absolute temperature (K).

Activation energy (Qd): the activation energy


can be taken as the energy required to produce
the diffusion movement of one mole of atoms.
A large activation energy results in a relatively
small diffusion coefficient.

Interstitial diffusion need less energy than


vacancies.

Materials Science and Engineering 11


3.4. Factors that influence diffusion
3.4.2. Temperature
This kind of expressions can be rewritten as a linear equation taking logarithms in both sides:
𝑄𝑑 𝑄𝑑 1
𝐷 = 𝐷0 𝑒𝑥𝑝 − 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝐷 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝐷 0 −
𝑅𝑇 2.3𝑅 𝑇

𝑦 = 𝑏 + 𝑚𝑥
where y and x analogous to log D and 1/T. If log D is plotted versus the reciprocal of the
absolute temperature, a straight line should be drawn, having a slope of –Qd/2.3R and intercept
of log D0.

Materials Science and Engineering 12


3.4. Factors that influence diffusion
3.4.2. Temperature

Materials Science and Engineering 13


Materials Science and Engineering 14

You might also like