Dissolution of bubbles in glassmelts with equilibrium redox reactions: approximations for a moving bubble boundary

The solutions of the diffusion equations with a moving boundary for bubble dissolution (or growth) accompanied by a chemical reaction, were examined. From the viewpoint of the interaction between the convective transport and the chemical reactions, some approximations introduced to solve numerically the equations governing the bubble dissolution (or growth) were studied. For bubble dissolution in glassmelts with equilibrium redox reactions due to refining agents, the applicability of the convection transport approximations employed in the literature was discussed. It was found that our previously proposed model, in which the convective transport is neglected, agrees well with the rigorous finite-difference solution and is more reasonable compared with the approximate models proposed in the literature. Comparisons between our approximate model and the rigorous numerical solution indicate better agreement for dissolution of a bubble by simultaneous mass transfer and chemical reaction, compared with that by only mass transfer. © 1998 Chapman & Hall