Heating flux effects on floating zone growth under micro-gravity conditions

Numerical computation of the heat flux distribution effect on the unsteadiness of the liquid bridge flow in mg environment is achieved in a 2D axisymmetrical configuration. A model coupling liquid bridge to phase change is developed. The interaction of the thermo-capillary flows with solid/liquid interface is analysed considering the latent heat effects. The results show the strong effect of external thermal boundary conditions as a control parameter on the hydrodynamic and the crystal grown by using a Floating Zone (FZ) technique. The growth speed is controlled by the latent heat at the interface and the focalisation of the heat flux at the free surface.