Electrostatic Levitator Furnace for Japanese Experiment Module

Abstract

An electrostatic levitator furnace (ELF) for Japanese Experiment Module of Space Station is now under development. This electrostatic levitator furnace consists of heating section, positioning section, observation section, atmosphere control section and automatic sample-exchange robotics. In ELF, samples will be heated by four lasers, and each laser power can be controlled independently, which enables both uniform and nonuniform heating. The charged samples are positioned between electrodes, and their position-control is achieved by changing electrode voltages in accordance with position signals from detectors . ELF has three equipments for observing samples during processing, which are a pyrometer, a thermal imaging system and a video camera . ELF can provide containerless processing under micro-gravity environment for various materials including metals, glass, ceramics, and so on. This report describes the features, expected environment for processing and development status of ELF.