Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Chung, Sang Kun.
Report describes experiments in which electrically charged drops of liquid levitated electrostatically and rotated and vibrated acoustically. Discusses possibility of measuring charges of drops of low-viscosity liquids by drop-oscillation method, and measurement of surface tensions of highly viscous liquids by drop-rotation method. Results have implications for containerless processing and modeling of atomic nuclei.
A hybrid electrostatic-acoustic levitator that can levitate and manipulate a large liquid drop in one gravity is presented. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time such large drops (up to 4 mm in diameter in the case of water) have been levitated against 1-gravity. This makes possible, for the first time, many new experiments both in space and in ground-based laboratories, such as 1)supercooling and superheating, 2) containerless crystal growth from various salt solutions or melts, 3) drop dynamics of oscillating or rotating liquid drops, 4) drop evaporation and Rayleigh bursting, and 5) containerless material processing in space. The digital control system, liquid drop launch process, principles of electrode design, and design of a multipurpose room temperature levitation chamber are described. Preliminary results that demonstrate drop oscillation and rotation, and crystal growth from supersaturated salt solutions are presented.