Use of Induction Heating for Floating Zone Melting above 2000°C

Abstract

The method described uses an eddy current concentrator to focus the energy of an rf magnetic field on a small part of a ¼‐in.‐diam rod. Zone melting has been carried out at temperatures above 2600°C, and can probably be extended to temperatures above 3000°C. The advantages of this method over some others used in the same temperature range are that it can be carried out under an inert gas atmosphere instead of a vacuum, and uses for its power supply conventional 450‐kc induction heating equipment.