Defect and Diffusion Forum Vols. 237-240

Abstract: This work deals with the study of zinc self-diffusion in ZnO polycrystal of high density and of high purity. The diffusion experiments were performed using the 65Zn radioactive isotope as zinc tracer. A thin film of the tracer was deposited on the polished surface of the samples, and then the diffusion annealings were performed from 1006 to 1377oC, in oxygen atmosphere. After the diffusion treatment, the 65Zn diffusion profiles were established by means of the Residual Activity Method. From the zinc diffusion profiles were deduced the volume diffusion coefficient and the product dDgb for the grain-boundary diffusion, where d is the grain-boundary width and Dgb is the grain-boundary diffusion coefficient. The results obtained for the volume diffusion coefficient show good agreement with the most recent results obtained in ZnO single crystals using stable tracer and depth profiling by secondary ion mass spectrometry, while for the grain-boundary diffusion there is no data published by other authors for comparison with our results. The zinc grain-boundary diffusion coefficients are ca. 4 orders of magnitude greater than the volume diffusion coefficients, in the same experimental conditions, which means that grain-boundary is a fast path for zinc diffusion in polycrystalline ZnO.

Abstract: Simple lattice model of polymer systems was developed and studied using the Monte Carlo method. The model chains were star-branched with f = 3 arms and rings. The number of polymer segments in a chain was varied up to 800. The chains were built on a simple cubic lattice with the excluded volume interactions only (the athermal system). The polymers were confined between two parallel impenetrable walls with a set of irregular obstacles what can be treated as porous media. A Metropolis-like sampling algorithm employing local changes of chain conformation was used. The dynamic properties of the model system were studied. The differences in the mobility of chains with different internal architectures were shown and discussed. The possible mechanisms of motions were presented.

Abstract: A methodology for discrete simulation has been developed that incorporates many structural characteristics of polycrystalline material properties, such as: texture, grain boundaries, microstructure, phase composition, chemical composition, stored energy, and residual stresses. The computer models that have been developed to study oxidation processes are based on a quantitative description of the oxide and substrate structure. That description allows for the simulation of the transport of metal and oxygen ions along interfaces and bulk portions of material and the formation of oxide structure. The proposed model can help researchers and engineers to understand the physical mechanism of oxidation in order to predict material behavior and optimize material processing and properties. In this paper, the results on the simulation of the oxidation process are presented on different substrates of Zr-Nb alloys, which are used for the manufacturing the pressure tubes used in the CANDU nuclear reactors. The effects of substrate texture, microstructure, grain boundaries, and beta phase distribution on oxidation kinetics and hydrogen permeation are demonstrated.

Abstract: The jump frequency of Cd tracer atoms was measured as a function of temperature in seven rare-earth tri-indide intermetallic compounds having the L12, or Cu3Au, structure. The frequency, proportional to the diffusivity, was detected by relaxation of nuclear quadrupole interaction at Cd nuclei caused by reorientation of the electric field gradient in each diffusive jump. Measurements were made using perturbed angular correlation of gamma rays, sensitive to jump frequencies in the range 1-1000 MHz. Results are as follows. (1) Jump frequencies measured in LaIn3 and CeIn3 were observed to be 10-100 times greater at the more In-rich boundary composition than the less In-rich boundary composition, even though the phases appear as line compounds in phase diagrams. (2) Arrhenius plots of the jump frequency were fitted to activation enthalpies that increase from 0.535 to 1.80 eV across the series of phases LaIn3, CeIn3, PrIn3, and NdIn3.

Abstract: Exact mathematical solutions of the grain boundary diffusion equation in thin films have generally a complicated form, which is too cumbersome for the evaluation of experimental average concentration depth profiles obtained by sectioning techniques. On the other hand the accuracy of the exact solutions is not necessary for practical purposes so that it is useful to derive sufficiently accurate approximate solutions. We propose a method to derive such solutions for a thin film if the grain boundary diffusion is in the B2 regime. These solutions are derived for different diffusion sources.