Chemical Engineering Department

Mass Transfer I Che421 Spring 2013

Assignment No. 5
Unsteady state diffusion
Problem NO. 1

Problem NO. 2

Problem NO. 3
A preheated piece of mild steel, having an initial concentration of
0.20% by weight of carbon, is exposed to a carbonizing atmosphere
for 1 h. Under the processing conditions, the surface concentration of
carbon is 0.70% by weight. If the diffusivity of carbon through steel
is 1.0 x 10-11 m2/s at the process temperature, determine the carbon
composition at 0.01 cm, 0.02 cm, and 0.04 cm below the surface.

Problem NO. 4

Carbonization of steel is a high temperature process. At a

temperature of 1273 K, how mush time would be required to raise
the steel carbon content at a depth of 1mm from 0.1 % to 1.0 %.
Assume the carbon mole fraction on steel surface equals to 0.02.