2006 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 20-
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace is an effective method for rnetastable phase research. This report describes the development status of the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) for microgravity experiments. The technical study model of ELF has been fabricated. Some ground based and parabolic flight experiments using the technical study model have been carried out to evaluate the performance. As a current result, we have succeeded in stable levitation of metal and non-metal samples. In the parabolic flight experiments, levitation melting of Zr sample and solidification from the supercooling liquid state were completed during reduced gravity condition. Future plans of experiments using technical study model and system configuration image of the ELF for ISS Japanese experiment module ``Kibo'' are introduced.
