High-Temperature Levitated Materials

One of the major experimental difficulties in studying materials at extreme temperatures is unwanted contamination of the sample through contact with the container. This can be avoided by suspending the sample through levitation. This technique also makes metastable states of matter accessible, opening up new avenues of scientific enquiry, as well as possible new materials for technological applications. This book describes several methods of levitation, the most important being aerodynamic, electromagnetic and electrostatic. It summarizes the state-of-the-art of the measurement of structural, dynamic and physical properties with levitation techniques, the considerable progress made in this field in the past two decades, and prospects for the future. It also explores the concepts behind the experiments and associated theoretical ideas. Aimed at researchers in physics, physical chemistry and materials science, the book is also of interest to professionals working in high-temperature materials processing and the aerospace industry.

1. Scientific and technological context; 2. Levitation methods; 3. Heating methods; 4. Experimental techniques; 5. Levitation in materials research; 6. Liquid metals and alloys; 7. Molten semiconductors; 8. Molten oxides; 9. Conclusions and prospects; References; Index.

Describing several methods of levitation, this book summarizes the state-of-the-art of levitation techniques, and explores the concepts behind the experiments and associated theoretical ideas. Aimed at researchers in physics, physical chemistry and materials science, the book will also interest professionals working in high-temperature materials processing and the aerospace industry.

David L. Price is Director of Research at Conditions Extrêmes et Matériaux: Haute Température et Irradiation (CEMHTI), Orléans, France. His research interests include order and disorder in solids and liquids, dynamics of disordered systems, the glass transition and melting, neutron diffraction with isotope substitution, deep inelastic and quasielastic neutron scattering, and anomalous, high-energy and inelastic X-ray scattering.