4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

Duhok Polytechnique University-Petrochemical Department

2018 / 2019

Material Science

 Lecture 05: Physical Properties of Materials- Mass Diffusion

Lecturer: Dr Farhad M. Ali

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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019

4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

Mass Diffusion

Diffusion is the process by which atoms move in a material. ... Diffusion can be defined
as the mass flow process in which atoms change their positions relative to neighbors in
a given phase under the influence of thermal and a gradient.

Movement of atoms or molecules within a material or across a boundary between two

materials in contact.

Because of thermal agitation of the atoms in a material (solid, liquid, or gas), atoms are
continuously moving about

➢ In liquids and gases, where the level of thermal agitation is high, it is a free-roaming
movement
➢ In metals, atomic motion is facilitated by vacancies and other imperfections in the
crystal structure.

Mass transfer involves movement of matter of a substance from one place to another place.
It is different from movement of bulk fluid such as air movement caused by a fan or blower
and flow of water caused through a pipe due to pressure difference or by a pump. In mass
transfer, movement is caused by differences in concentration of the substances between
two regions. Mixing of two gases upon removal of a boundary separating them in a container
is an example of mass transfer on account of concentration differences as shown in Figure
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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019

4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

Concentration of a substance quantifies the amount of the substance per unit volume. This
amount can be on a mass or molar basis. The mass concentration of a particular substance
called the density and is expressed as:
=m/V
In mass transfer concentration means molar concentration and is expressed as
C=n/V
In mass transfer, movement of a matter of substance occurs due to concentration
gradient and movement is always from high concentration region to low concentration
region. The mass transfer will continue till the concentration differences between two
regions exist and will stop when equilibrium is obtained.
Mass transfer basically deals with transport of species:
• within a medium for example sugar dissolves in a cup of tea to sweeten the entire tea
cup as shown

• across an interface for example from one medium to another i.e. spreading of food
odour in the entire house as shown
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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019

4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

Mass transfer is similar to heat transfer in following ways:

➢ The driving force for heat transfer is temperature gradient whereas mass transfer
occurs due to concentration gradient.
➢ Heat transfer always takes place from high to low temperature regions, similarly
mass is transferred towards low concentration regions, thereby, decreasing the
temperature gradient.
➢ Heat transfer stops immediately when temperature difference becomes zero,
similarly, mass transfer ceases when concentration gradient is reduced to zero.
➢ The rates of heat and mass transfer depend upon the driving potential and
resistance.
Types of Mass Transfer:
Transfer of mass takes place under different conditions and depending upon the
conditions, it can classify in to different categories which are shown

1- Diffusion Mass Transfer: Diffusion mass transfer can be classified two

categories:
i. Molecular Mass Diffusion: This type of mass transfer occurs at macroscopic
level in which transfer of mass takes place from a region of high concentration to low
concentration in a mixture of liquids or gases. Transfer of mass by diffusion occurs due to
➢ Presence of concentration gradient in a mixture and is called ordinary diffusion as
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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019

4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

➢
➢ Presence of thermal gradient and is termed as thermal diffusion
➢ Presence of pressure gradient and is termed as pressure diffusion
➢ Presence of external forces and is termed as forced diffusion

ii. Eddy Diffusion: Mass transfer by eddy diffusion occurs when one of the diffusing
fluids is in turbulent motion and is in addition to the diffusion mass transfer. The turbulent
motion increases mass transfer.

2. Convective Mass Transfer: Mass transfer occurring between a moving fluid and a
surface or between two relatively immiscible fluids is termed as convective mass transfer.

3. Mass Transfer by Phase Change: This type of mass transfer occurs due to change
in the phase of a substance.

Fick’s Law of Diffusion:

The diffusion process is governed by mass transfer laws which are very similar to heat
transfer laws and govern the relationship between mass flux and concentration gradient.
The basic law of diffusion was proposed in 1855 by Adolf Fick which is expressed as

Mass Flux = Constant of Proportionality X Concentration Gradient (1)

Fick's Law describes the relationship between the rate of diffusion and the three factors
that affect diffusion. It states that 'the rate of diffusion is proportional to both the
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4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

surface area and concentration difference and is inversely proportional to the

thickness of the membrane'

Consider a system in which a partition separates two gases B and C and the two gases
are maintained at same temperature and pressure initially as shown
On removal of the partition, molecules of gas B
move towards right where concentration is low
while molecules of gas C move towards low
concentration area i.e towards left. The
molecules of both the gases diffuse with each
other gradually. The diffusion rate is given by
Fick’s law and is expressed as:
𝑚 𝑑𝐶
= −𝐷
𝐴 𝑑𝑥
(The above formula is for steady-state diffusion-)
𝒎
• : is Mass flux or mass flow per unit area, Kgm /hr-m2 (mass / time * area)
𝑨

• A is area through which mass is flowing, m2

• C is mass concentration or molecules per unit volume,
𝑑𝑐
• kg/m3 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑎𝑠 (The
𝑑𝑥

concentration gradient is often called the driving force in diffusion). Steady state
diffusion: the diffusion flux does not change with time
• D is the diffusion coefficient or mass diffusivity, m2/Sec
• The minus sign in the equation means that diffusion is down the concentration
gradient.

Alternative formula for Fick’s Law:

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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019

4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

𝑑𝐶
𝐽 = −𝐷
𝑑𝑥
The flux of diffusing atoms, J, is expressed either in number of atoms per unit area and
per unit time (e.g., atoms/m2-second) or in terms of mass flux (e.g., kg/m2-second)

Factors That Influence Diffusion

There is a barrier to diffusion created by neighbouring atoms that need to move to let the
diffusing atom pass. Thus, atomic vibrations created by temperature assist diffusion (the
temperature should be high enough to overcome energy barriers to atomic motion). Also,
smaller atoms diffuse more readily than big ones, and diffusion is faster in open lattices or
in open directions. Similar to the case of vacancy formation

Some important aspects of Fick’s law of diffusion are summarized below;

1. Fick’s law is applicable for all matter irrespective of it state: solid, liquid or gas. Mass
transfer is inversely proportional to molecular spacing.
2. Similar to heat transfer which occurs in direction of decreasing temperature, mass
transfer by diffusion also occurs in the direction of decreasing concentration.
3. Apart from concentration gradient, mass transfer can occur due to presence of
temperature gradient, pressure gradient or external force. However, Fick’s law gives rate of
mass transfer on account of concentration gradient only and effect of other parameters is
considered to be small or negligible.
4. Diffusion coefficients in gases are highest, followed by liquids and solids.
5. Diffusion coefficient or mass diffusivity is a function of temperature, pressure and
composition of a system. However, for ideal gases and dilute liquids, diffusion coefficient
depends on temperature and pressure and is independent of system composition.
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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019

4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

Mechanisms of diffusion:
Two mechanisms 1): Vacancy diffusion 2): Interstitial diffusion:
In fact, the atoms in solid materials are in constant motion, rapidly changing positions. For
an atom to make such a move, two conditions must be met:
(1) there must be an empty adjacent site, and
(2) the atom must have sufficient energy to break bonds with its neighbour atoms and
then cause some lattice distortion during the displacement.
Vacancy diffusion:
The direction of flow of atoms is opposite the vacancy flow direction. To jump from lattice
site to lattice site, atoms need energy to break bonds with neighbours, and to cause the
necessary lattice distortions during jump. The energy necessary for motion, Em, is called
the activation energy for vacancy motion. The rate depends on: number of vacancies and
activation energy to exchange

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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019

4th Year Stage-Petrochemical Department Material Science-Lecture 05

Interstitial diffusion:
Interstitial diffusion is generally faster than vacancy diffusion because bonding of interstitials
to the surrounding atoms is normally weaker and there are many more interstitial sites than
vacancy sites to jump to. Requires small impurity atoms (e.g. C, H, O) to fit into interstices
in host.

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DR FARHAD M. ALI 4THY-MATERIAL SCIENCE-LECTURE-05-2018-2019