A phase transition model with the entropy balance

This paper deals with a phase transition model in which the energy balance is equivalently rewritten in terms of the entropy balance. The thermodynamical consistence of the model is proved and also under physically meaningful assumptions on the data, existence of a solution is stated for the corresponding initial boundary values problem by a maximum principle. Hence, L¹‐arguments yield the uniqueness of the solution and show that it evolves in accordance with thermodynamics and everyday practical properties. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.