MSE 553: Defects, Diffusion and Transformation First Semester 2019/20

3 November 2019

Assignment THREE
(Due 13th November, 2019)
1) (a) Explain how decarburisation causes a variation in the microstructure in a slowly cooled
eutectoid steel as a function of the distance from the exposed surface.
(b) A Fe-0.7C wt.% steel is decarburised at 927 K such that a constant carbon concentration
of 0.1 wt.% is maintained at the exposed surface. If the diffusion coefficient for carbon
in austenite is 2 × 10-5 mm2s-1, how long will it take for the depth at which the
concentration is 0.4 wt.% to become 2.5 mm?
(c) How does your calculated time compare with an estimate made assuming that the
diffusion distance is 2√𝐷𝑡? Comment on why the two results are different.
(d) How can decarburisation be prevented in practice?

2) (a) Describe an experiment which can prove that diffusion occurs by a vacancy mechanism
rather than a mechanism in which adjacent atoms simply swap positions.
(b) What role do grain boundaries play in the performance of turbine blades used in the
construction of aeroengines, and how may you minimise their detrimental effects?
(c) Two phases are in equilibrium, one being richer in solute than the other. Explain why
there is no diffusion even though the phases have different chemical compositions.
(d) An interstitial solute diffuses through a 0.25 mm thin foil of nickel at a steady rate, when
one of the surfaces is maintained at a constant concentration given by the equilibrium
solubility, and the other at zero concentration. Use the following data to derive the
activation energy for diffusion:
Temperature/ ˚C Solubility/ gm-3 Flux/ gm-2s-1
977 13300 3.0
867 20000 2.0
(i) Calculate the activation energy for diffusion.
(ii) Explain why this is equivalent to the activation energy for the migration of the
interstitial atom. Explain why when substitutional solutes diffusing by a vacancy
mechanism do so at a much slower rate than interstitials?
(iii) What evidence is there that the diffusion of copper in nickel occurs by a vacancy
mechanism.

3) (a) Substitutional atom diffusion in binary alloys within the cubic crystal system can be
described fully with just one diffusion coefficient, the chemical diffusion coefficient
(often called the interdiffusion coefficient). Discuss how this situation is modified for the
following cases:
i) Non-cubic crystals
ii) Ternary alloys
iii) Alloys with a very fine grain size
iv) Non-ideal solid solutions
(b) The long-range segregation of aluminium in the intermetallic compound Ni3Al can be
minimised by rapidly solidifying liquid droplets of the alloy, in a process known as
atomisation. The resulting powder is consolidated to give a fine grained polycrystalline
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MSE 553: Defects, Diffusion and Transformation First Semester 2019/20
3 November 2019

aggregate of Ni3Al. The compound exhibits an increase in strength with temperature, but
its creep strength also depends on the rate at which nickel can diffuse through the solid.
Calculate the effective diffusion coefficient of Ni at 1273 K in a Ni Al sample with 4 ×
106 m-1 of grain boundary area per unit volume, given that the volume diffusivity of Ni
in the alloy is Dv = 0.8exp{-24000/T} m2s-1 and its grain boundary diffusivity is Dv =
0.8exp{-14500/T} m2s-1.

4) (a) Explain the origin of the following phenomena:

i) Shape memory effect;
ii) rubber elasticity in metals;
iii) transformation induced plasticity (TRIP).
(b) How would you measure the displacements associated with displacive transformations in
(i) metals; (ii) ceramics?
(c) (i) Estimate the steady–state flux of atomic hydrogen at 25 ◦C through a steel vessel
of wall thickness 4 mm given that its inside surface is kept saturated with hydrogen
at a concentration of 4.2 moles m−3; the outside surface is exposed to the
atmosphere. The diffusivity of hydrogen in α–iron is D0 = 0.1 mm2 s−1, Q = 13.4 kJ
mol−1.
(ii) If the vessel contains 20 moles of hydrogen, estimate the hours taken to dissipate
all of the hydrogen given that the vessel has a surface area of 2 m2.
(iii) Comment on why it is possible to store hydrogen gas in iron cylinders for much
longer periods. How does dissolved hydrogen affect the mechanical properties of
α–iron?

5) (a) Mild steel containing 0.05 wt% carbon is carburised at 900 ◦C by maintaining its surface
concentration at 1.5 wt% carbon. Calculate the time required to produce a hypereutectoid
structure at a depth of 0.3 mm. The diffusivity of carbon in γ–iron is D0 = 2 mm2 s−1, Q =
84.1 kJ mol−1.
(b) The measured self–diffusion coefficients for two aluminium samples are given in the
table below. Sample A is in an annealed condition whereas sample B is heavily cold–
worked. Plot the data in an appropriate way, account for the observed behaviour and
estimate the activation energy for lattice diffusion.
T/ ˚C 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
2 −1 -7 -4
DA/ mm s 4 × 10 2 × 10 0.005 0.05 1.1 19 210 1620
2 −1 -5 -3
DA/ mm s 5 × 10 3 × 10 0.05 0.4 3 25 220 1630