Iron self diffusion in liquid pure iron and iron-carbon alloys

With incoherent quasielastic neutron scattering self-diffusion coefficients [Formula: see text] in pure iron, and iron-carbon alloys containing 8.7 at% and 16.9 at% carbon have been measured. At the melting point [Formula: see text] in liquid iron is [Formula: see text] m² s^-1. For the close-to-eutectic Fe_83.1C_16.9 composition [Formula: see text] m² s^-1 at T[Formula: see text] K. Contradicting conclusions drawn from literature values of tracer diffusion experiments the addition of carbon has only a minor effect on the iron mobility: at a given temperature the self-diffusion coefficient in Fe_83.1C_16.9 is only 10% larger than in liquid iron, although mixing has a drastic effect on liquidus temperature and phase behavior.