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Analogy to the Kirkendall Effect in the Gas Phase

Abstract

THE Kirkendall effect1 was first observed as a movement of fine molybdenum wire markers in a contact plane between brass and copper during interdiffusion. If diffusion occurs by a random walk movement of individual atoms, then, no matter what theory is employed for their detailed motion, it is difficult to see how it could produce movement of markers. Darken2 considered that diffusion of copper and zinc occurred in opposite directions, at independent rates, and that the difference was compensated by a ‘bulk flow’. If it fails to occur, voids are left behind by the more rapidly moving component, and this result of diffusion in metals has in fact been observed3.

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References

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MILLER, L., CARMAN, P. Analogy to the Kirkendall Effect in the Gas Phase. Nature 186, 549–550 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/186549b0

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