Microstructural stability of the Kirkendall plane in solid-state diffusion

Abstract

The Kirkendall plane, as marked by inert very fine agglomerates of ThO2 particles that spread evenly at the contact surface of a reaction couple, need not be unique in a volume-diffusion controlled interaction. The Kirkendall-effect-mediated migration of macroscopic inclusions inside a diffusion zone was rationalized by introducing a new phenomenological approach.