Measurements of Thermophysiacal properties of liquid metallic alloys in a ground and microgravity based research programme : the ThermoLab Project

The ThermoLab project is concerned with the measurement of the thermophysical properties of industrial alloys in the liquid phase. The project combines long and short duration microgravità measurements based on containerless processing with an electromagnetic levitation device and a ground based experimental programme using conventional and containerless processing techniques. An overview of the project and representative results from the ground based experimental programme are given. Alloys investigated included Ni-based, Fe-based, a Cu- Sn-Mg alloy and a ³-TiAl alloy.