How grain structure evolution affects the kinetics of a solid-state reaction: a case of interaction between iridium and zirconium carbide†

This work investigates the solid-state reaction between iridium and zirconium carbide, resulting in the formation of carbon and ZrIr₃—an intermetallic compound of great interest for modern high-temperature materials science. We have found a transition of kinetic regimes in this reaction: from linear kinetics (when the chemical reaction is a limiting stage) at 1500 and 1550 °C to ‘non-parabolic kinetics’ at 1600 °C. Non-parabolic kinetics is characterized by the thickness of the product layer being proportional to a power of time less than 1/2. The nature of non-parabolic kinetics is still an open question, which motivated us to develop a model of this kinetic regime. The proposed model accounts for the grain growth in the product phase and how it leads to the time dependence of the interdiffusion coefficient. We have obtained a complete analytical solution for this model and an equation that connects the grain-growth exponent and the power-law exponent of non-parabolic kinetics. The measurements of the thickness of the product layer and the average grain size of the intermetallic phase confirm the results of the theoretical solution.