The purpose of this research project is to clarify the interfacial phenomena between the molten steel and the oxide melts from the viewpoints of thermophysical properties of these liquids. In our project, using an electrostatic levitation furnace (ELF) in the International Space Station (ISS) we obtain density, surface tension and viscosity of oxide melts and also try to obtain interfacial tension between the molten steel and the oxide melts by the modified oscillating drop technique. The research work contributes the precise process control for the high advantage steels products. Because in iron and steel making processes interfacial tension plays important role for the control of molten steel flow at the interface between molten steel and oxide melts. We, therefore, propose the novel technique to obtain temperature dependence of interfacial tension between molten iron and molten oxides by core-shell form droplet including interface between two liquids using electrostatic levitation, which achieve the containerless conditions. The proposal of the novel technique of interfacial tension measurements using ELF in KIBO was accepted in 2012-JAXA-AO for International Research Participation on ISS-KIBO. In the manuscript, we introduce our research project outline and current status for the future ISS experiments.
