Containerless processing technology

A brief review of containerless processing activities sponsored by NASA's Microgravity Science Division is presented. Attention is given to ground based systems such as shot tower processing of molten materials, single axis levitation and flight processing concepts including BeO processing aboard the Space Shuttle, a medium temperature three-axis acoustic positioning system and a high temperature single axis acoustic positioning system. In the future, more sophisticated experiments will be conducted using improved measurement techniques which will quantitatively define the advantages of containerless processing, as well as improve the understanding of nuclear kinetics and of the thermophysical properties of materials at high temperatures.