Levitational melting of several kilograms of metal with a cold crucible

A cold crucible is useful for contactless melting of metals. Metals and alloys can be refined to high degrees of purity with cold crucibles. The construction of a crucible strongly influences the melting conditions of molten metal. In this paper, crucible construction is examined in experimental investigations and electromagnetic analyses. The results obtained demonstrate that a crucible with many slits is good for melting metals, and that a crucible with a cone-shaped inside and coils equidistant from the molten metal in the crucible is best for levitational melting. We have successfully levitated and melted 2.3 kg of Ti with an improved crucible in two to three minutes.<>