The Kirkendall effect stems from unequal mobilities of atomic species, which gave rise to a net flux of vacancies during interdiffusion in substitutional alloys. A simple binary phase field crystal model was studied here in order to include unequal atomic mobilities and to demonstrate that the model captured many phenomena associated with the Kirkendall effect; including the center-of-mass motion, vacancy supersaturation that could lead to pore formation and an enhanced vacancy concentration near grain boundaries.

The Kirkendall Effect in the Phase Field Crystal Model. K.R.Elder, K.Thornton, J.J.Hoyt: Philosophical Magazine, 2011, 91[1], 151-64