Part IX - Papers - Activity of Interstitial and Nonmetallic Solutes in Dilute Metallic Solutions: Lattice Ratio as a Concentration Variable

The concentration of a solute in a dilute ),zetallic solution may be measured by any of several parame- ters including weight percent, atom fraction, atom ratio, and lattice ratio. The ratio of filled to unfilled interstitial sites is useful for interstitial solutes. A variable 2 proportional to this ratio is used as a measuve of concentration. For component 2 irz a bitzary solution z2 = n2/Ym - nz/b) where b is the numberber of interstitial sites per lattice atom. For a t~lul-ticortzporzent solution this becomes zz = n2/(nl + Cvjnj) in which Vj = - l/b for an interstial solute and +1 for a substitulional solute. In the infinitely dilute solution the activity of an interstitial solute 2 is proportional lo z2. At finile concentration the departure from this limiting law is expressed us an activity coefficient, his coefficient is a function of concentra1io)z expressed as tevactiolz coeffcient 8; is analogous to the jark~iliar e£ bul is found to be independent of concentvation in certain solutions for which data are available. It is found that the same equations may be used to express the activity of a nonmetallic solute, sulfur, in liquid solutions of iron containing other solutes, both metallic and nonmetallic. For a nonmetallic solute or for one which strongly increases the actiuity of sulfur, it is convenient to assign arbitvarily a value vj = — 1. When this is done the derivative is found to be constant in each of the ternary solutions studied. The activity coefficient of sulfur in a complex liquid iron solution may be expressed as where nk is a second-order cross product determined in the quaternary solution Fe-S-j-k. The equation is used to calculate tlze activity of sulfur i)z three sevetl- component solutions. IN thermodynamic calculations concerning dilute solutions it is unnecessary to invoke laws and relations which extend across the concentration range to include concentrated solutions. In most binary metallic systems, as arkeen&apos; has recently pointed out, there exist two terminal composition regions of relatively simple behavior, connected by a central region of much greater complexity. When the solute is a nonmetal there is only one such region and in many systems the concentration range is extremely limited. It is the purpose of this paper to suggest a method for the calculation of activities in such a terminal region in which one or more solutes are dissolved in a single solvent of predominantly high concentration. HENRY&apos;S LAW In the usual textbook statement of Henry&apos;s law, concentration is stated in mole fraction. This has the advantage that it makes Henry&apos;s law thermodynamically consistent with Raoult&apos;s law. Since all measures of concentration at infinite dilution are related by simple proportion it follows that mole fraction, molality, atom ratio, weight percent, or any other unit of concentration can be used with the appropriate constant. At finite concentrations, however, calculations based on the law depend upon the unit employed. Deviations from Henry&apos;s law at finite concentrations depend upon the composition variable employed. They are evaluated in terms of activity and interaction coefficients2 which have become familiar features of metallurgical thermodynamics. It is the purpose of this paper to propose a measure of concentration for metallic solutions containing interstitial or nonmetallic solutes by means of which the calculation of activities in complex solutions may be simplified. The discussion will be restricted to free-energy interaction coefficients3 typified by Wagner&apos;s c|a BINARY SOLUTIONS The several measures of concentration which are to be considered are shown in line a of Table I. The corresponding activity coefficients are in line b and the deviation coefficients, sometimes called self-interaction coefficients, are in line c. Henry&apos;s law simply states that the activity coefficient approaches a constant value at infinite dilution. By adoptihg the infinitely dilute solution as the reference state and defining the "Henrian" activity as equal to the concentration in this state, the activity coefficient is always unity at infinite dilution. This convention is far sim~ler and more useful in dilute solution than emploiment of the &apos;Raoultian" activities and it will be used in the following discussion. The several definitions and equations of Table I will be referred to by means of their coordinates in the table. Early observations of deviations from Henry&apos;s law in metallic solutions were shown graphically4 rather than analytically. For the case of sulfur in liquid iron5 the slope of a plot of logfs vs (%S) was constant in the range 0 to 4.8 pct S, indicating constancy of eh2&apos; in Ic. He was proposed by wagnerz and has been widely adopted. The a function of IIIc recently employed by ~arkenl was designed specifically for dilute solutions. Darken has shown that the value of a12 remains essentially constant for many binary solutions within a substantial range of compositions. The atom ratio is directly proportional to the molalitv.<, a conventional measure of concentration. IVb and C served as the basis for smith&apos;s6 classic studies of