Asssignment-5

Heat treatment and Surface hardening I

NPTEL-Mooc-5th week
1) A metal nucleates as sphere in a melt. If sl = 220 mJ/m2 and Gv = -109 J/m3 , the
ratio of critical radius of spherical and critical edge length of cubed shape nucleus is
_________

Answer: [any answer between 0.47 to 0.53 is valid]

2) During homogeneous solidification of a pure metal from its molten state, very high
nucleation rate and very small growth rate will result into the microstructure
consisting of
a) very coarse grains
b) very fine grains
c) mixture of fine and coarse grains
d) different for different metal
3) During homogeneous nucleation of a metal from liquid to solid, if Gv = 2.0 x 106
J/m3 and sl = 4.3 x 10-3 J/m2 , the number of atoms in critical nucleus is approximately
_________

(Assume crystal structure of solid is bcc and lattice parameter is 0.5 nm)
Answer: [any answer between 5270 to 5350 is valid]
4) During homogeneous nucleation of a pure metal, with decrease in transformation
temperature the volume of critical nucleus
a) decreases
b) increases
c) first increases then decreases
d) first decreases then increases
5) Eight million molecules are required to form a nucleus of critical size during the
solidification of a pure metal at the undercooling of 5 K. If the degree of undercooling
is doubled then the number of molecules required to form a nucleus of critical size
will be ______________ million.
Answer: exactly 1
6) Melting point of a metal is 500 K. At the temperature of 550 K, the value of G r will
_________ with

increase in the radius of clusters.

a) first increases then decreases

b) first decreases then increases
c) always increases
d) always decreases
7) The number of nuclei per mm3 of radius 0.5 nm during solidification of a metal A at
its melting point of 300 K is_________
[Given: molar volume = 1 X 10-5 m3 /mol, SL = 0.022 J/m2 ]
a) 5.61 X 1038 mm-3
b) 1.69 X 1038 mm-3
c) 2.38 X 1016 mm-3
d) 3.38 X 1012 mm-3
8) During the homogeneous nucleation of a pure metal, if the viscosity of the liquid is
increased, the nucleation rate
a) increases
b) decreases
c) does not depend on viscosity
d) first increases then decreases
9) The viscosity of aluminium at its melting point is 1.3 mPa-s. If the jump distance of
atoms from liquid to critical nucleus is 0.2 nm and the lattice vibration frequency is
1013 s-1 , the activation barrier (GD) for an atomic jump across the interface to join
critical nucleus will be
a) 4.32 X 10-19 J
b) 4.32 X 10-21 J
c) 5.58 X 10-20 J
d) 1.12 X 10-20 J
10) During the homogeneous nucleation of a pure metal, if the nucleation rate is below
the critical nucleation rate
a) rapid solidification takes place
b) liquid remain as supercooled liquid
c) solidification depends on the crystal structure of the metal
d) None of these