Modelling of the solid layer growth from melt crystallization - the integral formulation approach

This work deals with the mathematical simulation of the solid-layer growth from solid-layer melt crystallization by applying the integral formulation approach. The mathematical model here proposed has been applied to the prediction of the growth of a crystal on a cylindrical cold surface in contact with a stirred melt. Three systems, i.e, pure epsilon-caprolactam, mixtures of epsilon-caprolactam and water and pure naphtalene, have been examined. The data for the first two systems have been obtained by means of an easy experimental procedure. In all cases the proposed model provided a very good prediction of the experimental data. Finally, a comparison was made between the prediction of the crystal-layer growth by means of the developed model and a simplified quasi-steady state one. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd