Tracer diffusion of iron in α-Mn1±yS polycrystals

Tracer diffusion of iron in polycrystalline samples of α-MnS was studied. In the diffusion experiments the radioactive isotope of iron, 59Fe, was used. The dependence of diffusion coefficient on sulfur activity and temperature was investigated. It was found that the dominant transport mechanism is the volume diffusion, which proceeds via point defects of α-MnS, and that the iron diffusion rate is larger than the self-diffusion of manganese in manganous sulfide. The activation energy for the vacancy mechanism of diffusion was calculated.