The free-surface shape and temperature distribution produced in liquid metal droplets by heating coil pulses in the TEMPUS electromagnetic levitation facility

We present the results of analytical and numerical calculations of the free-surface shape and temperature distribution produced in liquid metal droplets processed in the TEMPUS electromagnetic levitation facility. The mathematical models were developed to predict the behavior of liquid metal droplets in containerless experiments used to measure thermophysical properties aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia during the IML-2 mission in July 1994. A normal stress balance model was used to numerically calculate the equilibrium free-surface shapes for various samples produced by a number of induction coil voltages. Analytical and numerical calculations were performed to model the heat transfer in the liquid metal droplets during and following the heating coil pulses. The work illustrates the use of mathematical modeling in the design of microgravity experiments and is applicable to industrial processes such as casting and skull melting.