Diffusivity of oxygen and nitrogen in liquid metals: an explicit formulation

Abstract

Based on the free volume theory of viscosity developed by Hildebrand, a predictive equation for the estimation of the diffusivities of oxygen and nitrogen in liquid metals is proposed. However, the suggested formulation takes into account only the size differences between the solute and the solvent, whereas other effects arising from the extent of solubility and the ability to form stable oxides, etc. have been neglected at this stage. A comparison between the theoretically calculated and experimental values of diffusion coefficients for a series of liquid metals (e.g. Ag, bismuth, Cu, Ga, indium, Ni, Pb, Fe and Sn) is presented.