Directional solidification of a metal

摘要

A molten material 30 can be heated, melted and directly solidified in a single vessel 10. Induction heating and melting of the molten material is achieved by magnetically coupling the field produced by current flow in a plurality of induction coils 1-6 surrounding the vessel with either the molten material in the vessel, or a susceptor surrounding molten material in the vessel. Current flow is selectively removed from the plurality of induction coils, and a cooling medium surrounding the vessel, such as water flowing through hollow induction coils, solidifies the molten metal into a highly purified crystalline solid.