title: Property measurements and solidification studies by electrostatic levitation.
abstract: The National Space Development Agency of Japan has recently developed several electrostatic levitation furnaces and implemented new techniques and procedures for property measurement, solidification studies, and atomic structure research. In addition to the contamination-free environment for undercooled and liquid metals and semiconductors, the newly developed facilities possess the unique capabilities of handling ceramics and high vapor pressure materials, reducing processing time, and imaging high luminosity samples. These are exemplified in this paper with the successful processing of BaTiO(3). This allowed measurement of the density of high temperature solid, liquid, and undercooled phases. Furthermore, the material resulting from containerless solidification consisted of micrometer-size particles and a glass-like phase exhibiting a giant dielectric constant exceeding 100,000.
authors.affiliation: ISS Science Project Office, Tsukuba Space Center, 2-1-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8505, Japan. paradis.paulfrancois@jaxa.jp
authors.forename: Paul-François
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Paradis
authors.forename: Jianding
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoda
mesh_terms: D001464:Barium / Q000737:chemistry; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry; D003460:Crystallization; D003461:Crystallography; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D010825:Physics; D013026:Space Flight; D055672:Static Electricity; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: C009495:titanium dioxide; D001464:Barium; D014025:Titanium