Electromagnetic-capillary instabilities of a hollow liquid cylinder - Production of spherical shells under microgravity conditions

An electrical device is proposed for manufacturing spherical shells out of hollow metallic cylinders in a microgravity environment. Such a cylinder is melted by passing a strong axial current through it. The resulting liquid column is unstable to axisymmetric disturbances and breaks up to form hollow spheres after solidification. The stability analysis presented in this paper, which is based on an inviscid magnetohydrodynamic formulation, shows that the size of the spheres may be controlled by varying the strength of the current passed through the column.