Gas levitator having fixed levitation node for containerless processing
Abstract
A method and apparatus is disclosed for levitating a specimen of material in a containerless environment at a stable nodal position independent of gravity. An elongated levitation tube has a contoured interior in the form of convergent section, constriction, and a divergent section in which the levitation node is created. A gas flow control means prevents separation of flow from the interior walls in the region of a specimen. The apparatus provides for levitating and heating the specimen simultaneously by combustion of a suitable gas mixture combined with an inert gas.
- Publication:
-
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Report
- Pub Date:
- August 1981
- Bibcode:
- 1981msfc.rept.....B
- Keywords:
-
- Containerless Melts;
- Gas Streams;
- Levitation;
- Low Gravity Manufacturing;
- Gas Flow;
- Gas Mixtures;
- Microgravity Applications;
- Patents;
- Rare Gases;
- Space Commercialization;
- Space Processing;
- Instrumentation and Photography