Experimental Investigation and Computer Simulation of Diffusion in Fe-Mo and Fe-Mn-Mo Alloys with Different Optimization Methods

Abstract

In order to simulate the diffusional phase transformations involving the fcc and bcc phases for microalloyed steels, the diffusion mobilities for fcc and bcc Fe-Mo and Fe-Mn-Mo alloys were experimentally investigated and critically assessed. The diffusion-couple technique was employed to extract the interdiffusion coefficients in Fe-Mo and Fe-Mn-Mo alloys with the Sauer–Freise and Whittle–Green methods. Based on the present experimental interdiffsivities, the mobility parameters for the fcc and bcc phases in the Fe-Mo and Fe-Mn-Mo systems were optimized using the traditional method. Simultaneously, a direct method was developed and utilized to directly fit mobilities to the diffusion profiles rather than the diffusivities in the present work. The satisfactory description of the diffusion behavior in the Fe-Mo and Fe-Mn-Mo systems has confirmed the reliability of the direct method. Particularly, the two sets of diffusion mobilities obtained with both methods could simulate the diffusion phenomenon between the fcc and bcc phases in the Fe-Mo and Fe-Mn-Mo systems successfully.