Electromagnetic transport and confinement of liquid metals

Applications in which electromagnetic forces are used to stir, transport, dispense, and/or confine liquid metal are described. Applications include the electromagnetic trough, the electromagnetic mould, pedestal melting, thin strip casting, and levitation casting. Fundamentals relating to the production of electromagnetic forces are reviewed, a number of important applications are discussed, essential design limitations are identified, and the question of modeling for design purposes is considered. It is shown that with present technology, electromagnetic confinement methods cannot be expected to support ferrostatic heads in excess of 10-25 cm. This limit imposes a constraint on the development of new applications, such as the extension of the electromagnetic mold to steel casting and the use of electromagnetic confinement in the strip-casting process