Study of carbon diffusion in iron-base alloys

The process of carbon diffusion in iron-base alloys has been studied and th e main parameters of the process: diffusion coefficients D and activation e nergy E-d have been determined. The carbon diffusion coefficients in solid austenite phase are: D similar to 10(-11)-10(-12) m(2)/s and they depend on the chemical composition and structural features of the material. Activati on energy for carbon diffusion is: 94.7-122.0 kJ/mol. Experimental data of carbon concentration and diffusion coefficients have been used to work out a program for plotting carbon concentration curves within the diffusion lay er. This work is a part of a more complex study on the correlation between structure and properties of iron-based alloys having important practical ap plications which are also presented in the paper.