Nucleation of intermetallic compounds and of voids at interfaces during reactive diffusion was treated with account of influence of the flux divergence in the nucleation regions of the real space as an additional term for drift in the size space (in Fokker–Planck equation for nucleation). Such approach enables the construction of effective Gibbs nucleation barrier which may (in the broad region of parameters) increase to infinity meaning the full suppression of nucleation, or, by the contrast, decrease assisting the nucleation. The introduced effective nucleation barriers depended upon kinetic factors – upon the ratio of diffusivities in nucleating and in neighbouring phases. Thus, the competition of stable and metastable phases was reconsidered, as well as nucleation of Kirkendall/Frenkel voids at the interfaces.

Flux-Driven Nucleation at Interfaces During Reactive Diffusion. A.M.Gusak, F.Hodaj, G.Schmitz: Philosophical Magazine Letters, 2011, 91[9], 610-20