ABSTRACT
The stabilities of the interface between various materials have been analyzed in terms of the chemical potentials of all elements involved. The chemical potentials can provide those thermodynamic driving forces for reaction and diffusion which are crucial in understanding what chemical processes take place in the interface. To analyze experimentally observed concentration profiles of interfaces, a simple model using three approximations is proposed: (1) local thermodynamic equilibrium at interface vicinity; (2) infinitely dilute solution for all phases involved; and (3) constituent atoms of a phase and impurities can diffuse along their respective chemical potential gradients. This model makes it possible to draw a plausible reaction path in the chemical potential space which should be compared with an analogous reaction path in compositional phase diagrams. Analyses have been made on interface reactions associated with zirconia.
