Validity of the second Fick's law for modeling ion-exchange diffusion in non-crystalline viscoelastic media (glasses)

Abstract

It is shown that, in general case, the diffusion equation (or the second Fick's law) does not provide an adequate description of ion-exchange transport phenomena in viscoelastic media, including glassy or any other non-crystalline media. In this connection the general phenomenological model of ion-exchange diffusion in viscoelastic media has been developed. A theoretical analysis of the model shows that, in the case of a linear dependence of medium density on the concentration of diffusing ions, the necessary and sufficient condition of the absolute validity of the diffusion equation in viscoelastic media is Φ ≫ 1, where Φ = τD/τR is the dimensionless value (or criterion of similarity), with τD = L2/D being the characteristic time of diffusion and τR = η/G being the characteristic time of stress relaxation, where L, D, η, and G are the characteristic length of diffusion, the diffusivity, the viscosity, and the shear modulus, respectively. The value of 1/Φ characterizes the accuracy which is provided if the second Fick's law is used in the simulation of ion-exchange diffusion in viscoelastic media. We have demonstrated the applicability of this criterion experimentally. Our experimental studies on ion-exchange diffusion in an oxide glass (typical viscoelastic media) have shown that under the condition the Φ > 105 the experimental concentration profiles are close to those predicted by the second Fick's law to within an accuracy of 1%.