Rapid melt/quench furnace using commercially available hardware

This report describes an off-the-shelf Orbital Tube Welder that can be easily used to melt and resolidify almost any electrically conductive material. This can be done on a KC-135 Aircraft within the microgravity period of one parabola. Melt sizes 3 mm diameter by 10 mm length and larger are feasible with most if not all materials. A highly reproducible, controlled, programmable heat and cool cycle can be provided. Sample measurements would have to be developed and could be as sophisticated or as simple as desired. These could include: optical and thermocouple temperature measurements, Peltier pulser for marking the solidification fronts, dimensional changes and whatever. Sample heat flows could be fixed over a very wide range being limited mostly by the cooling period, the desired sample size, and the 20 sec microgravity period of the KC-135 Aircraft parabola.