Ultrapure materials - Containerless evaporation and the roles of diffusion and Marangoni convection

Contamination from containers is a major problem in preparing ultrapure refractory materials. Space with its zero gravity and its high vacuum offers an opportunity for containerless purification of these materials. The evaporation of impurities from a melt will involve many complex chemical equilibria. Thermodynamic calculations have been modified to describe these equilibria when impurities in the melt evaporate into vacuum. The contributions of diffusion and Marangoni convection to mass transfer rates in the bulk liquid have been estimated. Calculations for the evaporative purification of molten alumina are given.