Rates Of Diffusion Of Copper And Zinc In Alpha Brass

THE amount of research done in the last few years on the subject of diffusion in solid metals is significant of the importance of this problem. To review the literature dealing with diffusion is unnecessary here. Desch1 in 1912 reviewed the work that had been done on diffusion in solids and gave a bibliography of the literature published before that time. Mehl's paper in 19362 is an excellent review of diffusion in metals and contains a large bibliography. Of importance also for its review and bibliography is an article by A. I. Krynitsky.3 While considerable material has appeared in the literature on diffusion in brass, the amount of information is not great compared to that pertaining to some of the other alloys. Most of the information published is of a qualitative nature; that which is quantitative varies considerably. Thus the quantitative determination of the rates of diffusion of copper and zinc in alpha brass by a new method appeared worth while. In the present investigation the rate of diffusion of zinc in approximately the same composition alpha brass has been determined at three temperatures. PROCEDURE The method used consisted of plating copper on a beta brass, heating it to allow diffusion to take place, and measuring the concentration of copper by determining the lattice constant of the alloy. This method is unique in that it uses a beta brass of such a composition that at the temperature at which diffusion takes place the beta brass is saturated with copper. Thus, while the beta brass supplies the zinc, no diffusion takes