Thermophysical properties of liquid refractory metals: Comparison between hard sphere model calculation and electrostatic levitation measurements

Thermophysical properties of molten refractory metals (titanium, zirconium, hafnium, and niobium) have been measured using a containerless method. Using an in-house developed electrostatic levitator, the density, the heat capacity, the entropy, the surface tension, and the viscosity of liquid phases have been measured over a wide temperature range. The measured data showed good agreement with theoretical calculations based on the hard sphere model. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.