Nb/Sn Liquid-Solid Reactive Diffusion Couples and Their Application to Determination of Phase Equilibria and Interdiffusion Coefficients of Nb-Sn Binary System

Nb3Sn plays an irreplaceable role in superconducting parts due to its stable performance under high field conditions. Accurate phase equilibria and interdiffusion coefficients are of great significance for designing novel Nb3Sn superconductors. However, the related experimental information is still in a state of scarcity because of the difficulty in fabrication of Nb-Sn alloys caused by the large difference in melting points of Nb and Sn. In this paper, a simple but pragmatic approach was first proposed to prepare the Nb/Sn liquid-solid reactive diffusion couples (LSDCs) at 1100 °C and 1200 °C, of which the phase identification of the formed layer and the measurement of composition-distance profiles were conducted. The formed layer in Nb/Sn LSDCs was confirmed to be Nb3Sn compound. While the measured composition profiles were employed to determine the phase equilibria according to the local equilibrium hypothesis and the interdiffusion coefficients with an aid of the latest version of HitDIC software. The determined phase equilibria of Nb3Sn, (Nb) and liquid show good agreement with the assessed phase diagram. While the calculated interdiffusion coefficients and activation energy for diffusion in Nb3Sn are consistent with both experimental and theoretical data in the literature. Moreover, the growth of the formed Nb3Sn layer in Nb/Sn LSDCs was also found to be diffusion controlled. All the obtained phase equilibria and interdiffusion coefficients are of great value for further thermodynamic and kinetic modeling of the Nb-Sn system. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the presently proposed approach of fabricating liquid-solid reactive diffusion couple should serve as a general one for various alloy systems with large differences in melting points.

Modelling of filamentous phage-induced antibiotic tolerance of P.aeruginosa

Filamentous molecules tend to spontaneously assemble into liquid crystalline droplets with a tactoid morphology in the environments with the high concentration on non-adsorbing molecules. Tactoids of filamentous Pf bacteriophage, such as those produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, have been linked with increased antibiotic tolerance. We modelled this system and show that tactoids, composed of filamentous Pf virions, can lead to antibiotic tolerance by acting as an adsorptive diffusion barrier. The continuum model, reminiscent of descriptions of reactive diffusion in porous media, has been solved numerically and good agreement was found with the analytical results, obtained using a homogenisation approach. We find that the formation of tactoids significantly increases antibiotic diffusion times leading to stronger antibiotic resistance.

Modelling of Phase Formation in Solid–Solid and Solid–Liquid Interactions: New Developments

Recent developments (after 2016) in modelling of phase formation during solid–solid and solid–liquid reactions by SKMF (Stochastic Kinetic Mean-Field) method, Monte Carlo simulation and phenomenological modelling are reviewed. Reasonable results of multiphase reactive diffusion modelling demonstrating distinct concentration plateau for each intermediate ordered compound and distinct concentration steps between these phases are obtained by the SKMF and Monte Carlo methods, if one takes into account interatomic interactions within two coordination shells and if the signs of mixing energies are ‘minus’ for the first coordination shell and ‘plus’ for the second one. Second possibility for reasonable modelling results is consideration of interatomic interactions depending on local concentration with maxima around stoichiometric composition. In phenomenological modelling, the generalization of Wagner diffusivity concept and respective superposition rule are introduced. New mechanism of the lateral grain growth in the growing phase layers during reactive diffusion is suggested. Anomalously fast grain growth at the final stages of soldering in sandwich-like Cu–Sn–Cu contacts is reported and explained. Simple model of Zn-additions’ influence on the Cu–Sn reaction is described.