METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HEATING REFRACTORY OXIDES

摘要

The present invention comprises a method of processing a refractory oxide material. The method comprises applying a high frequency electric field to heat the initial batch of refractory oxide material and applying a magnetic field to heat the initial batch of refractory oxide material. The high frequency electric field substantially heats the refractory oxide material to a temperature range at which the refractory oxide material undergoes a transition in electrical resistivity from an insulator to a conductor. The magnetic field inductively heats the refractory oxide material during and/or after the transition, wherein during the heating an electrical plasma is initiated and maintained. When the material is heated to a predetermined temperature to form a melt, during heating the emission spectra of the plasma is measured thereby acquiring in-situ information of the chemical and physical properties of the melt.