Diffusion in crystals with nonconservative defects

¹ Section de Recherches de Métallurgie Physique, DECM Centre d'Etudes de Saclay - 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
² Framatome, Nuclear Fuel - 10 rue Juliette Récamier, 69456 Lyon, France

Received: 2 April 1998
Accepted: 3 September 1998

Abstract

When diffusion proceeds in a crystal because of point defects which create or eliminate at discrete sinks, the defects can a priori neither be considered as conservative (zero sink strength) nor as being at local equilibrium (infinite sink strength). We establish the correction to Fick's law to first order in inverse sink strength; this introduces an unusual wavelength dependence of the kinetics, which reflects in the shape of the concentration profile, as demonstrated by model calculations.