Self-diffusion and impurity diffusion of fcc metals using the five-frequency model and the Embedded Atom Method

The activation energies for self-diffusion of transition metals (Au, Ag, Cu, Ni, Pd, Pt) have been calculated with the Embedded Atom Method (EAM); the results agree well with available experimental data for both mono-vacancy and di-vacancy mechanisms. The EAM was also used to calculate activation energies for vacancy migration near dilute impurities. These energies determine the atomic jump frequencies of the classic “five-frequency formula”, which yields the diffusion rates of impurities by a mono-vacancy mechanism. These calculations were found to agree fairly well with experiment and with Neumann and Hirschwald's “T_m” model.