Material processing in high static magnetic field. A review of an experimental study on levitation, phase separation, convection and texturation

(Received 18 June 1992, accepted in final form 22 July 1992)

Abstract
An inhomogeneous magnetic field exerts a force on magnetic materials and can be used either to compensate gravity, control convection in a magnetic liquid or modify the microstructure of a solidified multiphased system where the phases exhibit dilferent magnetic susceptibilities. A homogeneous field may produce a preferred crystallographic alignment in systems which exhibit an anisotropy of their magnetic susceptibility near their melting point. We present an experimental study of those ef[ ects, demonstrating t heir impact on the elaboration of a wide range of materials.