MAPUA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

ME136P / A2
Engineering Materials, Processes and Testing

Final Written Report

Diffusion

Cruz, Mary Kyla D.

Date Performed: October 22, 2015

2012102580

Date Submitted: October 27, 2015

Engr. RJ Lawrence Tiu

Professor

Introduction

It is important to study diffusion because many processes are dependent on the transfer of
mass within a specific solid or from one phase to another. This transfer of mass is called
diffusion. Diffusion is the phenomenon of mass transport by atomic motion. Diffusion may be
further explained by diffusion couple which is done by joining two metals together to allow them
to make an intimate contact with each other. The movement of the atoms are from regions with
high concentration to regions of low concentrations.

The process in which one metal diffuse to another metal is called inter diffusion. And the
process in which there is only one component material is called self-diffusion. There are two
dominant models for metallic diffusion, vacancy and interstitial diffusion. Steady state diffusion
is governed by Ficks First Law of Diffusion while Non-steady state diffusion is governed by
Ficks Second Law of Diffusion. This report also includes the factors that influences diffusion
which the temperature and the diffusing species.

Body

Diffusion

Diffusion is the phenomenon of mass transport. It is the net flux of any species such as
atoms, ions, electron and holes. It is also the net movement of atom or molecules from regions of
high concentration to regions of low concentration.

Some applications of diffusion is the carburization of steel and the doping of silicon with
phosphorous. Carburization of steel is the process in which the carbon is added to the surface of
steel. The carbon diffuses into the steel at high temperatures usually 1600 to 1800F (871 to
982C), making the steel hard. While doping is the process of adding impurities to pure
semiconductors to modify its properties. In this example, the impurity that is added is the
phosphorous and the pure semiconductor is the silicon.

After applying
heat
Fig.1 Carburization of steel

Fig.2 Doping silicon with phosphorous

Diffusion Couple

The phenomenon diffusion can be elaborated by means of diffusion couple. Diffusion

couple is formed by joining two metals together to make an intimate contact between the two
faces.

In the figure, the atoms are transferring from regions of high concentration to region of
low concentration.

Interdiffusion

Interdiffusion or sometimes called impurity diffusion, the atoms tends to migrate from
regions of high concentration to low concentration. The atoms of one metal diffuses to another
metal.

In the figure, after applying heat treatment to

copper and nickel, the atoms of copper moves
to the region of with low concentration while
the atoms of nicker moves also to the region
of low concentration. In short, the atoms of
nickel diffuses into the atoms of copper and
vice versa.

Self-diffusion

This type of diffusion requires only one component. It is the diffusion in one-component
material, when all atoms that exchange positions are of the same type.

Diffusion Mechanism

For an atom to make such a move, two conditions must be met

1. There must be an empty adjacent site
2. The atom must have sufficient energy to break bonds with its neighbor atoms and
then cause some lattice distortion during the displacement.
There are two dominant models for metallic diffusion
1. Vacancy Diffusion
2. Interstitial Diffusion
Vacancy Diffusion

Vacancy diffusion occurs primarily when the diffusing atoms are of a similar size, or
substitutional atoms. The diffusion of atoms in one direction corresponds to the motion of
vacancies (or impurity/substitute atoms) in the opposite direction. Both self-diffusion and
interdiffusion occur by this mechanism.

Interstitial Diffusion

Interstitial diffusion occurs when the diffusing atom is small enough to move between the
atoms in the lattice. It is generally faster than vacancy diffusion since the atom in motion is
smaller compared to the atom in vacancy diffusion which is the same size as the host atom.

Steady State Diffusion

It is often important to know how fast the diffusion occurs. This rate is expressed as the
diffusion flux, J. In steady state diffusion, Steady state diffusion means that diffusion flux / the
rate of diffusion (J) does not depend on time.

Diffusion flux, J is the rate of mass transfer. It is defined as the mass (or, equivalently, the
number of atoms) M diffusing through and perpendicular to a unit cross-sectional area of solid
per unit of time

Steady state diffusion is governed by Ficks first law of diffusion. Fick's first law relates
the diffusive flux to the concentration under the assumption of steady state. It postulates that the
flux goes from regions of high concentration to regions of low concentration. The diffusion flux
along direction x is proportional to the concentration gradient

Concentration profile shows the relationship between concentration and the position
within the solid. While the concentration gradient is the slope at a particular point on
concentration profile. The concentration gradient is often called the driving force in diffusion.

Non steady state diffusion

In non-steady state diffusion, Diffusion flux

depends on time, which means that a type of
atoms accumulates in a region or that it is
depleted from a region (which may cause them to accumulate in another region). Non steady
state is governed by Ficks Second Law.

Ficks Second Law

Ficks second law relates the rate of change of composition with time to the curvature of
the concentration profile.

Concentration increases with time in

those parts of the system where concentration
profile has a positive curvature. And decreases
where curvature is negative

Factors that influences diffusion

Diffusing Species
- The diffusing species as well as the host material influence the diffusion coefficient.
Example in figure, there is a significant difference in magnitude between selfdiffusion and carbon interdiffusion in iron at 500 C, the D value being greater for
the carbon inter diffusion.

Temperature
- Diffusion coefficient increases when the temperature increases. Example in figure, for
the self-diffusion of Fe in -Fe, the diffusion coefficient increases approximately six
orders of magnitude.

Conclusion

It is important for us to study diffusion because many processes done in materials are
dependent of the principles of diffusion. Diffusion is the phenomenon of mass transport and the
net movement of atoms or molecules from regions of high concentration to regions of low
concentration. The phenomenon is further explained by diffusion couple. Interdiffusion is in
which atoms of one metal diffuse into another metal while self-diffusion requires only one
component, and the atoms that exchanged positions are of the same type.For an atom to make a
movement, there are two conditions that must be met.
In this report I was able to explain diffusion. Which includes the types, the most common
mechanism for metallic diffusion, the laws governing the steady and non-steady state diffusion
and the factors the influence diffusion.

References

http://www.sv.vt.edu/classes/MSE2034_NoteBook/MSE2034_kriz_NoteBook/diffusion/d
iffintro.html

http://www.virginia.edu/bohr/mse209/chapter5.htm

http://people.virginia.edu/~lz2n/mse209/Chapter5.pdf

http://people.umass.edu/jig0/files/83.pdf

http://www.leb.eei.unierlangen.de/winterakademie/2010/report/content/course03/pdf/0306.pdf

http://www.slideshare.net/deveshkumar9849/diffusion-34030383

Material Science Engineering, An Introduction by W.D.Callister