Electromigration and Diffusion of Cadmium and Indium in Liquid Sodium

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Abstract
Mass transport induced by an electric current (electromigration) and by a concentration gradient (diffusion) was measured as a function of temperature in liquid sodium containing small amounts of cadmium or indium. While the calculated diffusion coefficients fall within values normally found for diffusion in liquid alloys, the electromigration behavior was strikingly different from observations in liquid mercury and bismuth alloys. In sodium, cadmium and indium migrate to the anode (in mercury and bismuth, they migrate to the cathode) with mobilities 25 to 50 times larger than in mercury or bismuth. These findings are explained, at least qualitatively, by a recently proposed model which describes electromigration in terms of an electron drag. The data are in better agreement when expressed as a “coefficient of electron drag”, which is dependent on the current density, than as a mobility, which is a velocity per unit field.

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