Diffusion process-mechanism

Successful operation of the gaseous diffusion process requires a special, fine-pored diffusion barrier, mechanically rehable and chemically resistant to corrosive attack by the process gas. For an effective separating barrier, the diameter of the pores must approach the range of the mean free path of the gas molecules, and in order to keep the total barrier area required as small as possible, the number of pores per unit area must be large. Seals are needed on the compressors to prevent both the escape of process gas and the inflow of harm fill impurities. Some of the problems of cascade operation are discussed in Reference 16. 

Ashby pointed out diat die sintering studies of copper particles of radius 3-15 microns showed clearly the effects of surface diffusion, and die activation energy for surface diffusion is close to the activation energy for volume diffusion, and hence it is not necessarily the volume diffusion process which predominates as a sintering mechanism at temperatures less than 800°C. 

The interdiffusion of polymer chains occurs by two basic processes. When the joint is first made chain loops between entanglements cross the interface but this motion is restricted by the entanglements and independent of molecular weight. Whole chains also start to cross the interface by reptation, but this is a rather slower process and requires that the diffusion of the chain across the interface is led by a chain end. The initial rate of this process is thus strongly influenced by the distribution of the chain ends close to the interface. Although these diffusion processes are fairly well understood, it is clear from the discussion above on immiscible polymers that the relationships between the failure stress of the interface and the interface structure are less understood. The most common assumptions used have been that the interface can bear a stress that is either proportional to the length of chain that has reptated across the interface or proportional to some measure of the density of cross interface entanglements or loops. Each of these criteria can be used with the micro-mechanical models but it is unclear which, if either, assumption is correct. 

We have so far assumed that the atoms deposited from the vapor phase or from dilute solution strike randomly and balHstically on the crystal surface. However, the material to be crystallized would normally be transported through another medium. Even if this is achieved by hydrodynamic convection, it must nevertheless overcome the last displacement for incorporation by a random diffusion process. Therefore, diffusion of material (as well as of heat) is the most important transport mechanism during crystal growth. An exception, to some extent, is molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) (see [3,12-14] and [15-19]) where the atoms may arrive non-thermalized at supersonic speeds on the crystal surface. But again, after their deposition, surface diffusion then comes into play. 

Interstitial diffusion is rarely possible when two metals interdiffuse, since their atomic radii are usually of the same order. Several mechanisms have been proposed, but it is now generally accepted that interdiffusion is due to the motion of vacant sites within the lattice, solvent and solute atoms moving as the vacant sites migrate. The diffusion process is thus dependent upon the state of imperfection of the solvent metal and the alloy being formed. 

Although zinc has an appreciable vapour pressure at the temperatures of treatment, it is unlikely that zinc vapour plays any significant part in the diffusion process and it is generally accepted that the mechanism relies almost exclusively on intimate contact of hnely divided zinc dust with the steel surface. In spite of this requirement, coatings of even thickness and composition are obtained on the most intricate shapes, on fine threads, inside blind holes, and in the bore of small-diameter tubes. Large articles of uniform section, e.g. rods, tubes, etc. can be coated by this process. 

The activated sludge process for domestic wastewater treatment was introduced to the world in 1914.1 Since then, many studies have been conducted to improve the oxygen transfer efficiency. Among the aeration devices introduced have been a porous diffuser, a filter type diffuser, a mechanical aeration device, an orifice type diffuser and a fine-pore air diffuser. The aeration market is in a substantial state of flux in the USA today. Emphasis on high efficiency has led many intensive research programmes to aim at the evaluation of the design, operation and control processes to improve overall system performance. 

However, while it is generally accepted that the rate of radical-radical reaction is dependent on how fast the radical centers of the propagating chains (Pp and Pj ) come together, there remains some controversy as to the diffusion mechanism(s) and/or what constitutes the rate-determining step in the diffusion process. The steps in the process as postulated by North and coworkers30 3" arc shown conceptually in Scheme 5.5. 

The differences in rate for the two positions of naphthalene show clearly that an additional-elimination mechanism may be ruled out. On the other hand, the magnitude of the above isotope effect is smaller than would be expected for a reaction involving rate-determining abstraction of hydrogen, so a mechanism involving significant internal return had been proposed, equilibria (239) and (240), p. 266. In this base-catalysed (B-SE2) reaction both k and k 2 must be fast in view of the reaction path symmetry. If diffusion away of the labelled solvent molecule BH is not rapid compared with the return reaction kLt a considerable fraction of ArLi reacts with BH rather than BH, the former possibility leading to no nett isotope effect. Since the diffusion process is unlikely to have an isotope effect then the overall observed effect will be less than that for the step k. ... 

In this case, we have 4 possible diffusion mechanisms all producing NiAl204. We cannot say which of the diffusion processes is faster at this... 

Although we have covered mechanisms relating to solid state reactions, the formation and growth of nuclei and the rate of their growth in both heterogeneous and homogeneous solids, and the diffusion processes thereby associated, there exist still other processes zifter the particles have formed. These include sequences in particle growth, once the particles have formed. Such sequences include ... 

Root exudation of extraordinary high amounts of specific carboxy lutes (e.g ci-u-ate, malate. oxalate, pbytosiderophores) in response to nutritional deficiency stress or Al toxicity in some plant species cannot simply be attributed to diffusion processes. The controlled release of these compounds, involved in mobilization of mineral nutrients and in detoxification of Al. may be mediated by more specific mechanisms. Inhibitory effects by exogenous application of various anion chan-... 

Studies of the effect of permeant s size on the translational diffusion in membranes suggest that a free-volume model is appropriate for the description of diffusion processes in the bilayers [93]. The dynamic motion of the chains of the membrane lipids and proteins may result in the formation of transient pockets of free volume or cavities into which a permeant molecule can enter. Diffusion occurs when a permeant jumps from a donor to an acceptor cavity. Results from recent molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the free volume transport mechanism is more likely to be operative in the core of the bilayer [84]. In the more ordered region of the bilayer, a kink shift diffusion mechanism is more likely to occur [84,94]. Kinks may be pictured as dynamic structural defects representing small, mobile free volumes in the hydrocarbon phase of the membrane, i.e., conformational kink g tg ) isomers of the hydrocarbon chains resulting from thermal motion [52] (Fig. 8). Small molecules can enter the small free volumes of the kinks and migrate across the membrane together with the kinks. 

In the first stage, unfixed dyes, salt and alkali present in the liquor phase must be removed and this is best done by replacing this liquor with fresh water. Sorption, desorption and diffusion processes play only subordinate roles in this stage, the key factors being liquor flow, mechanical action and liquor exchange. The dilution laws are generally applicable. 

Mechanism of nanocapsules formation by the emulsion-diffusion process. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 317, 458-4-68. 

A core assumption of ultra-Darwinism is that if not all, then most observed characters must be adaptive, so as to provide the phenotypic material upon which natural selection can act. However, what constitutes a character - and what constitutes an adaptation - is as much in the eye of the beholder as in the organism that is beheld, as Gould and Lewontin pointed out in their famous paper on spandrels (Gould and Lewontin, 1979). Natural selection s continual scrutiny does not give it an a la carte freedom to accept or reject genotypic or phenotypic variation. Structural constraints insist that evolutionary, genetic mechanisms are not infinitely flexible but must work within the limits of what is physically or chemically possible (for instance, the limits to the size of a single cell occasioned by the physics of diffusion processes, the size of a crustacean like a lobster or crab by the constraints... 

The molecular weight (M) dependence of the steady (stationary) primary nucleation rate (I) of polymers has been an important unresolved problem. The purpose of this section is to present a power law of molecular weight of I of PE, I oc M-H, where H is a constant which depends on materials and phases [20,33,34]. It will be shown that the self-diffusion process of chain molecules controls the Mn dependence of I, while the critical nucleation process does not. It will be concluded that a topological process, such as chain sliding diffusion and entanglement, assumes the most important role in nucleation mechanisms of polymers, as was predicted in the chain sliding diffusion theory of Hikosaka [14,15]. 

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