ABSTRACT
Many important technological applications involve phase change, such as the solidification of metals or plastics in casting and coating processes, welding, high-energy laser beam cutting and forming, crystal growth, freezing or thawing of foodstuffs, ice production, aerodynamic ablation, and thermal energy storage. Heat conduction problems in which phase change occurs are generally referred to as moving boundary problems. Two approximate methods most commonly used for the solution of phase-change problems are the integral method and the quasi-steady approximation. The chapter considers the solidification of a binary alloy, as an example to phase-change problems with mushy zone. The presence of a two-phase mushy zone with temperature-dependent concentration and phase proportion complicates the heat transfer analysis in such problems, and requires the simultaneous solution of the heat and mass transfer equations. An introduction to such problems and further references are given by Hayashi Y. and Kunimine K. and Poulikakos D.
