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🕳️ Kirkendall Effect: Void Formation from Unequal Interdiffusion

Watch two metals interdiffuse at different rates across a shared junction, driving marker-plane drift and the condensation of vacancies into observable Kirkendall voids.

Materials Science3DModerate60 FPS

The simulation shows two metals interdiffusing across a shared junction at different intrinsic rates, tracking inert marker-plane drift and the nucleation and growth of Kirkendall voids from condensing excess vacancies.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the relative diffusivity slider for each metal species and the annealing temperature and time controls to see how marker drift speed and void density near the interface respond.

💡 Did You Know?

The same diffusional imbalance that Kirkendall identified as a metallurgical curiosity in 1947 is now deliberately exploited to manufacture hollow nanoparticles for batteries and catalysis, a technique called the nanoscale Kirkendall effect.

⚙ Under the hood

Watch two metals interdiffuse at different rates across a shared junction, driving marker-plane drift and the condensation of vacancies into observable Kirkendall voids.

kirkendall effectdiffusionmetallurgyvacanciessolid state diffusionmaterials scienceinterdiffusionvoids

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install