Changing the parameters of vacancy formation and self-diffusion in various polymorphic modifications of iron

Abstract

The activation parameters for various iron structures were calculated by the analytical method based on the paired four-parameter Mie-Lennard-Jones interatomic interaction potential. Within the framework of a single method, all the activation processes parameters were calculated: Gibbs energy, enthalpy, entropy and volume for both the process of electroneutral vacancy formation and for the process of atom self-diffusion. The isobaric temperature dependences of the indicated activation parameters for BCC and FCC iron structures from T=10 to 1810 K along two isobars: P=0 and 10 GPa were calculated. It is shown that at the α-γ transition temperature (1184 K), the activation parameters decrease during the isobaric transition from the BCC to the FCC structure. At the γ-delta transition temperature (1667 K), the activation parameters increase during the transition from the FCC to the BCC structure. With increasing pressure, the jumps magnitude for the Gibbs energy and the enthalpy of the activation process increases, and for the entropy and volume of the activation process decreases. It is shown that, at low temperatures, due to quantum regularities, activation parameters strongly depend on temperature, and the entropy of activation processes in this region is negative. In the high temperature region, a good agreement has been obtained with the experimental estimates of activation parameters for different iron structures known from the literature. Keywords: vacancy, self-diffusion, interatomic potential, iron, structure, phase transition.