Coupled diffusion of two species in a slab with an eroding boundary

The diffusion of two interchangeable species in a medium with an eroding boundary is analyzed by modeling the problem as the solution of two diffusion equations coupled at the source term for a slab with a moving boundary. Formal solutions are developed for the concentration of the two species as a function of time and position in the slab for arbitrary initial distributions of the diffusing species, arbitrary sources within the medium and boundary conditions of the third kind at the bounding surfaces. It is shown with an illustrative example, that the resulting coupled integral equations for the species can be solved very efficiently by an approach employing both a lower- and upper-bound starting function for the concentrations. (author)