研究室紹介

Inorganic base materials—such as metals, glass, and semiconductors—are produced through high-temperature manufacturing processes (up to approximately 2000 °C). Therefore, the handling of high-temperature melts (such as metals and oxide melts), which can be considered the starting point of these materials, directly affects product quality and production costs. Our laboratory scientifically investigates the manufacturing processes of base materials from the perspective of "High-Temperature melt properties." We aim to experimentally unravel the complex behavior of materials at high temperatures, advance academic understanding, and ultimately develop high-performance materials with low energy consumption. Specifically, we perform high-precision and high-accuracy measurements of the physicochemical properties of molten metals and oxides—such as viscosity, electrical conductivity, density, surface tension, and wettability—which serve as guidelines for high-temperature process design, and we disseminate foundational data globally. High-Temperature melts do not form uniform liquid phases in actuall process (e.g. metal material manufacturing processes and in the vitrification process for high-level radioactive waste). Instead, they create complex fluids containing undissolved flux agents and precipitated solids. In recent years, we have also been taking on the challenge of evaluating the flow characteristics of these high-temperature multiphase melts and visualizing them using alternating electric fields.