Experimental investigation of the influence of reactive atmospheres on the surface tension of metallic melts with oscillating single droplets

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Nils Ellendt
• Subject Area: Mechanical Process Engineering
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456931739

The surface tension of metallic melts is a thermophysical property which is essential for the choice of process parameters in a large number of processes involving metallic melts.It is influenced by the composition of the alloy and the melt temperature. Even alloying elements in the ppm range can have a considerable influence on the surface tension. This also applies to possible contaminations, whose influence is largely unknown, but also to contamination by reactive gas atmospheres.In this project, the surface tension of metallic melts is to be investigated by experiments on free-falling, oscillating metal droplets in variable inert and reactive gas atmospheres. A high temperature single droplet generator will be used, which allows the generation of many thousands of oscillating single droplets from the identical metal melt. The surface tension of these droplets can be determined while varying the melt temperature and gas atmosphere within one experiment. For this purpose, drop formation modes with low droplet velocity need to be identified in order to keep the interaction between droplet oscillation and droplet flow low. Such interactions are investigated by means of a fluid flow simulation to determine validity limits and compensation strategies. Target systems for the determination of the surface tension include aluminium alloys with iron contamination, steels with copper contamination and high-entropy alloys.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Nepal
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Eric A. Jägle
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Devendra Adhikari