Development of Ground-based Electrostatic Levitation Furnace

Abstract

A ground-based electrostatic levitation furnace (NASDA-ELF) has been developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). This furnace can levitate and melt a around 1-3 mm diameter sample in containerless conditions. It has been developed not only as a test model for flight hardware on-board the International Space Station (ISS), but also as a tool for metastable phase research on the ground. This paper describes its design, capabilities several improvements it offers over prior electrostatic levitators, and overviews thermophysical properties measurement capabilities.