Abstract The diffusion of 115mCd, 203Hg and 72Ga tracers in lithium metal has been studied, using a thin film deposition and sectioning method.The experimental results can be expressed by the following Arrhenius relations:These results, which do not agree with any established theory of impurity diffusion in a metallic lattice, are discussed together with data from previous experiments in terms of the systematics of the dependence of the diffusivity on the "ionizability" of an impurity atom in Li, and on the size of the impurity. In this way a qualitative explanation of the different diffusions rates can be obtained. The relatively large and electropositive impurities appear to diffuse mainly via a vacancy mechanism and the small and electronegative ones mainly as interstitials. The distinction substitutional-interstitial is less pronounced for very large impurities, which may also exhibit tendencies to be trapped at lattice defects.
Impurity Diffusion in Lithium
