This page presents various course policies and a course calendar.
Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
Recitations: 1 session / week, 1 hour / session
Prerequisites
3.012, 3.022, 3.044, or permission of instructor.
Textbook
Balluffi, R. W., S. M. Allen, and W. C. Carter. Kinetics of Materials. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. ISBN: 9780471246893.
Homework
For most class sessions, homework problems will be suggested from the course textbook. These problems will not be graded, but students are strongly encouraged to work through them and consult the solutions in the book as needed.
Exams
Three 90 minute exams will be given during the term.
Grading Policy
The course grading is based on equal weight among the three exams (1/3 each).
Course Calendar
The calendar below provides information on the course’s lecture (L) and recitation (R) sessions.
| SES # | TOPICS |
|---|---|
| L1 | Introduction: Fields and Gradients; Fluxes; Continuity Equation |
| R1 | Recitation |
| L2 | Irreversible Thermodynamics |
| L3 | Driving Forces and Fluxes for Diffusion; Self-Diffusion and Interdiffusion |
| R2 | Recitation |
| L4 | Interdiffusion; Effects of Electrical Potential, Capillarity, and Stress on Diffusion Potential |
| L5 | Effects of Capillarity and Stress on Diffusion |
| L6 | The Diffusion Equation |
| R3 | Recitation |
| L7 | Solutions to the Diffusion Equation - I |
| L8 | Solutions to the Diffusion Equation - II |
| L9 | Solutions to the Diffusion Equation - III |
| R3 | Recitation |
| L10 | Activated Jump Processes |
| L11 | Diffusion Resulting from Discrete Jumps |
| L12 | Diffusion in Crystals |
| R4 | Recitation |
| Exam 1 | |
| L13 | Atomic Models for Diffusivities - I |
| L14 | Atomic Models for Diffusivities - II |
| R5 | Recitation |
| L15 | Short-Circuit Diffusion in Crystals |
| L16 | Diffusion in Noncrystalline Materials |
| L17 | Surface Evolution Due to Capillary Forces |
| R6 | Recitation |
| L18 | Particle Coarsening |
| L19 | Grain Growth |
| L20 | Diverse Short Topics: Anisotropic Surfaces, Diffusional Creep, and Sintering |
| R7 | Recitation |
| Exam 2 | |
| L21 | General Features of Phase Transformations |
| R8 | Recitation |
| L22 | Spinodal Decomposition and Continuous Ordering |
| L23 | Spinodal Decomposition Kinetics |
| R9 | Recitation |
| L24 | Nucleation |
| L25 | Heterogeneous Nucleation |
| L26 | Diffusional Growth |
| R10 | Recitation |
| L27 | Morphological Stability of Moving Interfaces |
| L28 | Kinetics of Nucleation and Growth Transformations |
| R11 | Recitation |
| Exam 3 |
