A hyperbaric aerodynamic levitator for containerless materials research

Sydney E Boland; Stephen K Wilke; Jonathan A Scott; Sarah M Schlossberg; Alex Ivaschenko; Richard J K Weber; David W Lipke

doi:10.1063/5.0148455

A hyperbaric aerodynamic levitator for containerless materials research

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 May 1;94(5):053903. doi: 10.1063/5.0148455.

Authors

Sydney E Boland¹, Stephen K Wilke², Jonathan A Scott¹, Sarah M Schlossberg², Alex Ivaschenko³, Richard J K Weber², David W Lipke¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri 65409, USA.
² Materials Development, Inc., Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004, USA.
³ Encole LLC, San Jose, California 95134, USA.

PMID: 37204284
DOI: 10.1063/5.0148455

Abstract

A hyperbaric aerodynamic levitator has been developed for containerless materials research at specimen temperatures exceeding 2000 °C and pressures up to 10.3 MPa (1500 psi). This report describes the prototype instrument design and observations of the influence of specimen size, density, pressure, and flow rate on levitation behavior. The effect of pressure on heat transfer was also assessed by studying the heating and cooling behavior of levitated Al2O3 liquids. A threefold increase in the convective heat transfer coefficient was estimated as pressure increased to 10.3 MPa. The results demonstrate that hyperbaric aerodynamic levitation is a promising technique for containerless materials research at high gas pressures.