Laser based method for surface tension and density measurements for liquid refractory metals (Nb, Ta, and W)

The increase of process simulations in industry leads to the need of accurate knowledge of material thermal properties. As the determination of liquid metal properties is quite difficult, this article presents an experimental setup and a technique to estimate the surface tension and the density of several refractory metals (Nb, Ta, and W) and their variation with the temperature. This work is based on the well known sessile droplet method applied in a controlled atmosphere (Ar) and coupled to thermal measurements. The particularity of this work is the acquisition of measurements up to high temperatures (over 3500 K).