METALLURGY AND MATERIAL SCIENCE

Module 1
(For M G University students prior to 2010 admission)

Prepaired by
Sajeev Abraham
Department of Mechanical Engineering
SAINTGITS College of Engineering
Pathamuttom, Kottayam,Kerala,India
E mail:sajeevabraham@hotmail.com

[Pick the date]

METALLURGY AND MATERIAL SCIENCE (M 304) - SYLLABUS

Module 1
Crystallography: Crystal structural determination, crystallographic directions and planes, miller
indices, packing of atoms in solids, atomic packing factor, co- ordination number- Amorphous
structure, glass transition temperature -- Effects of crystalline and amorphous structure on
mechanical and optical properties -- Mechanism of crystallization: Homogeneous and
heterogeneous nuclei formation, dendritic growth and grain boundary irregularity, grain size
effects on mechanical & optical properties - Changes within solid materials: Structural
imperfections: Point defects - line defect: edge, screw dislocation, burgers vector, forest of
dislocations, role of dislocation in the deformation of metals - Surface imperfections: role of
surface defect on crack propagation etc Mode of plastic deformation: mechanism of slip &
twinning, dislocation climb & cross slip, dislocation sources, frank-read source Diffusion in
solids, ficks laws, applications.
Module 2
Cold working, strain hardening, recovery, re-crystallization, grain growth, grain size and its
effects on mechanical properties-- Hot working, super plasticity Reasons for alloying, phase
transformation phase rules, single phase, multi phase equilibrium diagrams, solid solutions, inter
metallic compounds Equilibrium diagram reactions: monotectic, eutectic, eutectoid, peritectic,
peritectoid -- Polymorphism Detailed discussion of Iron-Carbon diagram with microstructure
changes in ferrite, austenite, cementite, graphite, pearlite, martensite, bainite.
Module 3
Definition and aims of heat treatment- Annealing, spheroidizing, normalizing, hardening,
tempering, austermpering, martempering with microstructure changes -- Surface treatment:
Diffusion methods: carburizing, nitriding, cyaniding -- Thermal methods: flame hardening,
induction hardening Deposition methods: hot dipping and coating, impregnation, metal
spraying, metal cladding Various strengthen mechanisms in metals: work hardening, grain
boundary hardening, grain size reduction, solid solution hardening, dispersion hardening.
Module 4
Alloy steels: Effects of alloying elements on: dislocation movement, polymorphic transformation
point, retardation of the transformation rates, improvement in corrosion resistance, mechanical
properties -- Nickel steels, chromium steels, etc Effects on steels, containing molybdenum,
vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, silicon, copper and lead high speed steels - - Cast irons:
classifications, gray, white, malleable and spheroidal graphite cast iron, composition,
microstructure, properties and applications - Principal non ferrous alloys like aluminum,
beryllium, copper, magnesium, nickel, study of composition, microstructure, properties and
applications- Reference shall be made to the phase diagrams whenever necessary.
Module 5
Fracture: Bonding forces and energies, cohesive strength of metals - Griffith theory - Crack
initiation, growth and crack arrest Effect of plastic deformation on crack propagation Factors
leading to crack propagation - Cleavage, intercrystalline, brittle, ductile fracture -- Influence of
slip on fracture Effect of impact loading on ductile material and its application in forging etc.-Fatigue: stress cycles Effects of stress concentration, size effect, surface texture on fatigue
Corrosion and thermal fatigue Mechanism of fatigue failure -- Creep: Creep curves Structural
change Mechanism of creep deformation.

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

METALLURGY AND MATERIAL SCIENCE -Module 1

WHAT ARE MATERIALS?

Materials may be defined as substance of which something is composed or made.

We obtain materials from earth crust and atmosphere.
Examples : Silicon and Iron constitute 27.72 and 5.00 percentage of weight of earths
crust respectively.
Nitrogen and Oxygen constitute 78.08 and 20.95 percentage of dry air by
volume respectively.

WHAT IS MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING?

Material science is the investigation of the relationship among processing, structure, properties,
and performance of materials
Structure:

At the atomic level: arrangement of atoms in different ways. (Gives different properties
for graphite than diamond both forms of carbon.)
At the microscopic level: arrangement of small grains of material that can be identified
by microscopy. (Gives different optical properties to transparent vs. frosted glass.)

Properties are the way the material responds to the environment. For instance, the mechanical,
electrical and magnetic properties are the responses to mechanical, electrical and magnetic
forces, respectively. Other important properties are thermal (transmission of heat, heat capacity),
optical (absorption, transmission and scattering of light), and the chemical stability in contact
with the environment (like corrosion resistance).
Processing of materials is the application of heat (heat treatment), mechanical forces, etc. to
affect their microstructure and, therefore, their properties.

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

WHY STUDY MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING?

To be able to select a material for a given use based on considerations of cost and
performance.
To understand the limits of materials and the change of their properties with use.
To be able to create a new material that will have some desirable properties.

All engineering disciplines need to know about materials. Even the most "immaterial", like
software or system engineering depend on the development of new materials, which in turn alter
the economics, like software-hardware trade-offs. Increasing applications of system engineering
are in materials manufacturing (industrial engineering) and complex environmental systems.
TYPES OF MATERIALS
Materials are classified as follows.
Metals: valence electrons are detached from atoms, and spread in an 'electron sea' that "glues"
the ions together. Metals are usually strong, conduct electricity and heat well and are opaque to
light (shiny if polished). Metals have high strength, high stiffness, high melting point and have
good ductility Examples: aluminum, steel, brass, gold.
Semiconductors: the bonding is covalent (electrons are shared between atoms). Their electrical
properties depend extremely strongly on minute proportions of contaminants. They are opaque to
visible light but transparent to the infrared. Examples: Si, Ge, GaAs.
Ceramics: atoms behave mostly like either positive or negative ions, and are bound by Coulomb
forces between them. They are usually combinations of metals or semiconductors with oxygen,
nitrogen or carbon (oxides, nitrides, and carbides). They are brittle, high melting temperature,
low density, high strength, stiffness, hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. Many
ceramics are good electrical and thermal insulators. Examples: glass, porcelain, many minerals.
Polymers: are bound by covalent forces and by weak van der Waals forces, and usually based
on H, C and other non-metallic elements. Polymers are useful because they are lightweight, are
corrosion resistant, are easy to process at low temperatures, and are generally inexpensive. One
of the distinct properties of polymers is that they are poor conductors of electricity and heat,
which makes them good insulators. Examples: plastics (nylon, Teflon, polyester) and rubber.
Other categories are not based on bonding.
Composites: made of different materials in intimate contact (example: fiberglass, concrete,
wood) to achieve specific properties.
Biomaterials:Can be any type of material that is biocompatible and used, for instance, to
replace human body parts.
TYPES OF SOLIDS
Crystallitne solid
Atoms self-organize in a regular and periodic arrangement of atoms or molecules in three
dimensions

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

It possesses a long range order of atoms ions or molecules.

May be made up of metallic crystals or non-metallic crystals
They shows sharp melting point
They are anisotropic (ie., physical properties are different in different directions)

Amorphous Solids :
Lacks a systematic atomic arrangement.
there is no long-range order. when a melt or a solution is cooled rapidly we get an amorphous
solid Eg. glass
No sharp melting point (because all bonds are not strong.)
isotropic

Amorphous: lacks a systematic atomic arrangement

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
A regular and repetitious pattern in which atoms of a crystalline material arrange them selves is
known as the crystal structure
A crystal is a repeating array. In describing this structure, we must distinguish between the
pattern of repetition (the lattice type) and what is repeated (the unit cell). The most fundamental
property of a crystal lattice is its symmetry. In three-dimensions, unit cells stack like boxes,
filling the space, making the crystal.

Cubic Lattice Structure

Hexagonal Lattice Structure

UNIT CELL
The unit cell is the smallest structural unit or building block that can describe the the crystal
structure. Repetition of the unit cell generates the entire crystal.Different choices of unit cells
possible, generally choose parallelepiped unit cell with highest level of symmetry Example: 2D
honeycomb net can be represented by translation of two adjacent atoms that form a unit cell for
this 2D crystalline structure
SPACE LATTICE or CRYSTAL LATTICE
Space lattice is defined as an infinite array of points in three dimensions in which every point has
surroundings identical to those of every other point in the array. If the centers of the points are
considered to be connected together by straight lines, then the system will be obtained
comprising a great number of equal parallelepipeds. The three dimensional array formed by the
unit cells of a crystal is called space lattice.
When a crystalline solid starts to form from the molten or gaseous state, these unit cells will tend
to stack in a three-dimensional array, with each cell perfectly aligned, and they will form a
crystal. If crystals are growing in a melt at the same time, the crystals will eventually meet and
form grains. The junction of the grains is called grain boundaries.

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Different choices of unit cells possible, generally choose parallelepiped unit cell with highest
level of symmetry.
CRYSTAL SYSTEMS
The crystal systems are a grouping of crystal structures according to the axial system used to
describe their lattice. Each crystal system consists of a set of three axes in a particular
geometrical arrangement. There are seven unique crystal systems.(Refer page 7)

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

METALLIC CRYSTAL STRUCTURES

The most common types of unit cells are the face centered cubic (FCC), the body-centered cubic
(FCC) and the hexagonal close-packed (HCP).There are 14 different types of crystal unit cell
structures or lattices are found in nature. However most metals and many other solids have unit
cell structures described as body center cubic (bcc), face centered cubic (fcc) or Hexagonal Close
Packed (hcp).
FACE-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC) CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
Atoms are located at each of the corners and on the centers of all the faces of cubic unit cell
Cu, Al, Ag, Au have this crystal structure

The hard spheres or ion cores touch one another across a face diagonal
the cube edge length, a= 4R/2
The coordination number, CN = the number of closest neighbors to
which an atom is bonded = number of touching atoms, CN = 12
Number of atoms per unit cell, n = 4. (For an atom that is shared with
m adjacent unit cells, we only count a fraction of the atom, 1/m). In FCC
unit cell we have:
6 face atoms shared by two cells: 6 x 1/2 = 3
8 corner atoms shared by eight cells: 8 x 1/8 = 1

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

 Atomic packing factor, APF = fraction of volume occupied by hard

spheres = (Sum of atomic volumes)/(Volume of cell) = 0.74 (maximum
possible)
Corner and face atoms in the unit cell are equivalent
FCC crystal has APF of 0.74, the maximum packing for a system
equal-sized spheres FCC is a close-packed structure
FCC can be represented by a stack of close-packed planes (planes with
highest density of atoms)

BODY-CENTERED CUBIC (BCC) CRYSTAL STRUCTURE

Atom at each corner and at center of cubic unit cell

Cr, -Fe, Mo have this crystal structure

The hard spheres touch one another along cube diagonalthe cube edge length, a= 4R/3
The coordination number, CN = 8
Number of atoms per unit cell, n = 2
Center atom (1) shared by no other cells: 1 x 1 = 1
8 corner atoms shared by eight cells: 8 x 1/8 = 1

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Atomic packing factor, APF = 0.68

Corner and center atoms are equivalent

HEXAGONAL CLOSE-PACKED CRYSTAL STRUCTURE

HCP is one more common structure of metallic crystals

Six atoms form regular hexagon, surrounding one atom in center. Another plane is situated
halfway up unit cell (c-axis), with 3 additional atoms situated at interstices of hexagonal
(close-packed) planes.

Cd, Mg, Zn, Ti have this crystal structure

Unit cell has two lattice parameters a and c. Ideal ratio c/a = 1.633
The coordination number, CN = 12 (same as in FCC)
Number of atoms per unit cell, n = 6.
3 mid-plane atoms shared by no other cells: 3 x 1 = 3
12 hexagonal corner atoms shared by 6 cells: 12 x 1/6 = 2
2 top/bottom plane center atoms shared by 2 cells: 2 x 1/2 = 1
Atomic packing factor, APF = 0.74 (same as in FCC)
All atoms are equivalent
Simple Cubic Structures
the cube edge length, a= 2R
The coordination number, CN = 4+2=6
Number of atoms per unit cell, n = 1
8 corner atoms shared by eight cells: 8 x 1/8 = 1
Atomic packing factor, APF = 0.52

Close-packed Structures (FCC and HCP

Both FCC and HCP crystal structures have atomic
packing factors of 0.74 (maximum possible value)
Both FCC and HCP crystal structures may be generated
by the stacking of close-packed planes

Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

 The difference between the two structures is in the stacking sequence

HCP: ABABAB...
FCC: Stacking Sequence ABCABCABC

FCC: ABCABCABC

...

Third plane is placed above the holes of the first plane not covered by the second
plane

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

HCP: Stacking Sequence ABABAB...

Third plane is placed directly above the first plane of atoms

POLYMORPHISM AND ALLOTROPY

Some materials may exist in more than one crystal structure, this is called
polymorphism. If the material is an elemental solid, it is called allotropy.An
example of allotropy is carbon, which can exist as diamond, graphite, and
amorphous carbon.

Pure, solid carbon occurs in three crystalline forms diamond, graphite; and large,
hollow fullerenes. Two kinds of fullerenes are shown here: buckminsterfullerene
(buckyball) and carbon nanotube
SINGLE CRYSTALS AND POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS

Single crystal: atoms are in a repeating or periodic array over the entire extent of
the material
Polycrystalline material: comprised of many small crystals or grains. The grains
have different crystallographic orientation. There exist atomic mismatch within the
regions where grains meet. These regions are called grain boundaries.

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Simulation of annealing of a polycrystalline grain structure

ANISOTROPY

Different directions in a crystal have a different packing.For instance, atoms along

the edge of FCC unit cell are more separated than along the face diagonal. This
causes anisotropy in the properties of crystals, for instance, the deformation
depends on the direction in which a stress is applied.
In some polycrystalline materials, grain orientations are random, so bulk material
properties are isotropic
Some polycrystalline materials have grains with preferredorientations (texture), so properties are
dominated by those relevant to the texture orientation and the material exhibits anisotropic
properties

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

MILLER INDICES (hkl)

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

DEFECTS IN SOLIDS

Defects have a profound impact on the macroscopic properties of

materials

The processing determines the defects

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

TYPES OF DEFECTS

Point defects:
Point defects are lattice errors at isolated lattice points. As the name
implies, they are imperfect point like regions in the crystal and ,therefore
they are referred to as zero dimensional imperfections.

Vacancy - A lattice position that is vacant because the atom is missing.

Vacancies an important part in diffusion of atoms through the lattice.
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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Interstitialcies In a close packed arrangement of atoms if the atomic

packing factor is low, an extra atom may be lodged within the crystal
structure. This is known as interstitials.Self-interstitials in metals
introduce large distortions in the surrounding lattice

Di-vacancies and interstitials

Vacancies are not only present as a result of solidification but can be produced by
raising the temperature or by irradiation with fast moving nuclear particles.

Schottky Defect: is obtained when an atom or ion is removed from a normal

lattice site and replaced by an ion on the surface of the crystal. In non-metallic
crystals, the formation of a vacancy involves a local readjustment in the
surrounding crystal such that charge neutrality is maintained in the crystal as a
whole. Thus if in an ionic crystal there is a vacancy in a positive ion site, charge
neutrality may be achieved by creating a vacancy in a neighboring negative ion
site. Such a pair of vacant sites is called Schottky defect.

Frenkel defect :- an ion displaced from the lattice site into an interstitial
site. If the charge neutrality is maintained by having an ion in an interstitial
position, the pair constitutes a Frenkel defect.
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Impurities Foreign atoms either occupy lattice sites from which the
regular atoms are missing or they occupy positions between the atoms of
the ideal crystal.These impurity atoms are responsible for the
functioning of most semiconductor devices.
Impurities two types-interstitial & substitutional impurities
Interstitial impurity is a smallsized atom occupying an interstice or
space between the regularly positioned atoms.
Substitutional impurity is created when a foreign atom substitutes for or
places a parent atom in the lattice. In brass, zinc is a substitutional atom
in the copper lattice.

DislocationsLinear Defects
Dislocations are abrupt changes in the regular ordering of atoms, along a line (dislocation line) in
the solid. A dislocation may be defined as a disturbed region between two perfect parts of a

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

crystal. Dislocation is responsible for the phenomenon of slip, by which most metals deform
plastically.
Dislocations can be observed in crystalline materials using electron-microscopic techniques.
Virtually all crystalline materials contain some dislocations that were introduced during
solidification, during plastic deformation, and as consequence of thermal stresses that result from
rapid cooling.
The importance of dislocations to the metal user is that dislocation interactions within a metal are
a primary means by which metals are deformed and strengthened. When metals deform by
dislocation motion, the more barriers the dislocations meet, the stronger the metal.
Two simple types of dislocation are:

Edge dislocation
Screw dislocation

Edge dislocation
Edge dislocations occur when an extra plane is inserted. The dislocation line is at the end of the
plane. In an edge dislocation, the Burgers vector is perpendicular to the dislocation line.

The edge defect can be easily visualized as an extra half-plane of atoms in a lattice. The
dislocation is called a line defect because the locus of defective points produced in the lattice by
the dislocation lie along a line. This line runs along the top of the extra half-plane. The interatomic bonds are significantly distorted only in the immediate vicinity of the dislocation line.

Edge dislocation

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Understanding the movement of a dislocation is key to understanding why dislocations allow

deformation to occur at much lower stress than in a perfect crystal. Dislocation motion is
analogous to movement of a caterpillar. The caterpillar would have to exert a large force to move
its entire body at once. Instead it moves the rear portion of its body forward a small amount and
creates a hump. The hump then moves forward and eventual moves all of the body forward by a
small amount.

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

They are characterized by the Burgers vector, found by doing a loop around the dislocation line
and noticing the extra interatomic spacing needed to close the loop. The Burgers vector in metals
points in a close packed direction.
Screw dislocation
Screw dislocations result when displacing planes relative to each other through shear. In this
case, the Burgers vector is parallel to the dislocation line.

Burgers Vector
To describe the magnitude and the direction of the main lattice distortion(strain
component of dislocation) caused by a dislocation, we use Burgers vector b. To
find the Burgers vector, we should make a circuit from from atom to atom counting
the same number of atomic distances in all directions. If the circuit encloses a
dislocation it will not close. The vector that closes the loop is the Burgers vector b.

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

In an ideal crystal

Dislocation Line:
A dislocation line is the boundary between slip and no slip regions of a crystal
Burgers vector:
The magnitude and the direction of the slip is represented by a vector b called the Burgers
vector,
Line vector
A unit vector t tangent to the dislocation line is called a tangent vector or the line vector.

Edge dislocation

An edge dislocation lies to its Burgers vector

An edge dislocation moves (in its slip plane) in the direction of the Burgers vector
(slip direction).

Screw Dislocation

A screw dislocation lies to its burgers vector.

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

A screw dislocation moves (in the slip plane) in a direction to the Burgers vector
(slip direction)

ine

w
re

Di

nL
tio
ca
o
l
s
t

Sc

b || t
b

Find the Burgers vector of a screw dislocation.

Surface Defects Or Imperfections

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Grain Boundaries

Polycrystalline material comprised of many small crystals or grains. The

grains have different crystallographic orientation. There exist atomic
mismatch within the regions where grains meet. These regions are called
crystal or grain boundaries. Surfaces and interfaces are reactive and
impurities tend to segregate there. Since energy is associated with
interfaces, grains tend to grow in size at the expense of smaller grains to
minimize energy. This occurs by diffusion, which is accelerated at high
temperatures.
High and Low Angle Grain Boundaries

Depending on misalignments of atomic planes between adjacent grains

we can distinguish between the low and high angle grain boundaries.
When the orientation difference between neighbouring grains is more
than100- 140, boundaries are called high-Angle Grain Boundaries

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

TILT AND TWIST GRAIN BOUNDARIES

Low angle grain boundary is an array of aligned edge dislocations. This type of
grain boundary is called tilt boundary (consider joint of two wedges)
Twist boundary - the boundary region consisting of arrays of screw dislocations
(consider joint of two halves of a cube and twist an angle around the cross section
normal)

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

TWIN BOUNDARIES

This gives rise to shape memory metals, which can recover their original shape if heated
to a high temperature. Shape-memory alloys are twinned and when deformed they
untwin. At high temperature the alloy returns back to the original twin configuration and
restore the original shape.Twins may come into existence during the growth of the
crystal or they may arise during deformation of materials.Twins formed during the
process of recrystallisation are annealing twins; and those

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Sequence in an ideal fcc crystal may be described as ABCABC ABC..

But the stacking fault might change the sequence to ABCACABC

BULK OR VOLUME DEFECTS

Pores - can greatly affect optical, thermal,

mechanical properties
Cracks - can greatly affect mechanical properties
Foreign inclusions - can greatly affect electrical,
mechanical, optical properties

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

DIFFUSION IN SOLIDS

Diffusion is material transport by atomic motion.

Inhomogeneous materials can become homogeneous by diffusion. For an active diffusion to occur, the
temperature should be high enough to overcome energy barriers to atomic motion.

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

INTERDIFFUSION AND SELF-DIFFUSION

Interdiffusion (or impurity diffusion) occurs in response to a concentration gradient.

Self-diffusion is diffusion in one-component material,when all atoms that

exchange positions are of the same type.
DIFFUSION MECHANISMS
Vacancy diffusion

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To jump from lattice site to lattice site, atoms need energy to break bonds
with neighbors, and to cause the necessary lattice distortions during jump.
This energy comes from the thermal energy of atomic vibrations.
Materials flow (the atom) is opposite the vacancy flow direction.
Interstitial diffusion

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. Requires small impurity atoms (e.g.
C, H, O) to fit into interstices in host

Diffusion Flux
The flux of diffusing atoms, J, is used to quantify how fast diffusion occurs. The flux is
defined as either in number of atoms diffusing through unit area and per unit time (e.g.,
atoms/m2-second) or in terms of the mass flux - mass of atoms diffusing through unit
area per unit time, (e.g., kg/m2-second).
J = M / At (1/A) (dM/dt) (Kg m-2 s-1)
where M is the mass of atoms diffusing through the area A during time t.

STEADY-STATE DIFFUSION
Steady state diffusion: the diffusion flux does not change with time.

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Concentration profile: concentration of atoms/molecules of interest as function of

position in the sample.
Concentration gradient: dC/dx (Kg.m-3): the slope at a particular point on
concentration profile.

Ficks first law

Ficks first law: the diffusion flux along direction x is proportional to the
concentration gradient

The concentration gradient is often called the driving force in diffusion (but it is
not a force in the mechanistic sense).The minus sign in the equation means that
diffusion is down the concentration gradient

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering

Non steady-State Diffusion: Ficks second law

In most real situations the concentration profile and the concentration gradient are
changing with time. The changes of the concentration profile is given in this case
by a differential equation, Ficks second law.

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Applications of diffusion

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Prepared by Sajeev Abraham, Dept.of Mechanical Engg.,SAINTGITS College of Engineering