Survey of methods for investigation of alloying element diffusion in molten metals

Various methods are described of the study of diffusion in melts including new methods of which some use the tracer technique. The following methods are described:the method of stationary diffusion source used for the determination of diffusion coefficients of 51Cr and 60Co in molten iron, the radiometric absorption method for direct monitoring of diffusion in melt, the slot method for determining the contentration distribution of radionuclides in samples, the method of thin layer used for monitoring homodiffusion and heterodiffusion of radionuclides in molten metals, namely, 59Fe→Fe , 51Cr→Fe, 185W→Fe, 51Cr→Fe-O, 185W→Fe-W, 51Cr→Fe-Cr-O, 110Ag→Zn, and the use of reactive diffusion for monitoring heterodiffusion of 185W in molten iron. A survey is given of the diffusion coefficients and their temperature dependence. (J.P.)