Free boundary problems with regions of growth and decay: An analysis of heat transfer in the dip soldering process

A method is developed for handling the free boundary problems that arise when phase changes produce regions growing and decaying in size during the same process. Perturbation and finite difference techniques are established which provide information valid for all time. The particular perturbation procedure can be extended to other free, boundary problems in which the amplitude of the boundary remains finite or in which the boundary returns. With these methods the heat transfer aspects of the dip soldering process are investigated. The results of the solutions are compared.with experimental measurements. © 1964 Oxford University Press.